The light to my shadows
by AnnaDreyar
Summary: A shogi game, a kiss, a smile and even her scent... Everything that enveloped that girl only made him feel more and more attracted and all he wanted was to entangle her in his shadows and keep her stuck with him forever. She was an intense light and he a dark shadow, in his opinion, was a perfect match and he would be damned if he let her go. [ShikaSaku]
1. Even on rainy days

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Shikamaru... unfortunately.**

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**Chapter 1: Even on rainy days.**

Shikamaru walked through the halls of the Hokage Tower, one hand firmly placed in the pocket while the other carried a bag. His eyes fixed forward, feet lazily dragging across the floor, taking him to his father or where he planned to find out where his father was. He would hate to come into a room only to find that he would have to walk somewhere else. It would be a complete and unnecessary loss of energy.

"Nara Shikaku." He asked, sparing some words as he looked into the raised eyebrows of the pretty receptionist who obviously found his attitude inappropriate. He sighed, felling annoyed that seemingly all the women in Konoha thought his bluntness to be rude, even when he was only asking for a measly information. "Can you please tell me where Nara Shikaku is?" He looked at the nameplate on the desk. "Shibata-san." He tried to force a polite smile but gave up immediately.

As expected, the receptionist who was visibly a civilian, demeanor changed completely as she smiled sweetly and guided him merrily to the room where Konoha's strategy team was probably taking care of the mess that had been made after the failure of the Chunin Exams. With all the destruction that had been left in the wake of the invasion by Orochimaru, Otogakure and Suna, Shikamaru knew that his father was busy far more than the man would like.

When the pretty receptionist pointed to the large table where the leaders of the Intelligence Division were gathered, Shikamaru watched her smile again before leaving, closing the door behind her. He let his feet guide him slowly to the table and deposited the bag in front of his father. "Mom told me to bring you lunch." He grunted and turned to leave after his father's simple thanks, glad that at least his father did not require him to do formalities or unnecessary talk, when he knew Shikamaru hated such things. He found that he loved his father for it, but he would never say it aloud.

Walking down the corridor to the exit, he shuffled away from a pile of books that was heading toward him. Scowling, he thought better, remembering that books do not go walking around on their own. He turned slowly and saw that the person behind the pile of books was the colorful haired girl who was the third team member of Naruto and the traitor Uchiha.

"Sorry about that." He heard her say as she turned the head, just enough to look him over the shoulder. "Oh Shikamaru, it's you." She stated and he restrained the urge to snort at the obvious statement. "I'm kind of busy, I'll see you around." After offering him a cheerful smile, she went wherever she was going before passing him.

He stood in the hallway for a few seconds looking in the direction she had left. He did not have much contact with her during their genin times or even their days at the Academy, but he knew a few things about Haruno Sakura. She was the teammate of Naruto and the defector Uchiha. He knew she was the love interest of Naruto and Lee, maybe that of Kiba but that was not yet proven, and he could careless to find out. He knew she was Ino's rival and that they both had a past. Ino had told Chouji and Shikamaru a few times but not a word of it really registered to him.

He knew she was in love with the deserter, because she begged Naruto to bring the Uchiha back, forcing Naruto to cling to a promise, that he particularly found too heavy. He hated the way she put an unnecessary weight on another person like that. He hated himself even more for failing on the recovery mission to bring Uchiha Sasuke back, which occurred a few weeks ago. He botched the rescue mission and thus felt responsible for Naruto making that promise in the first place.

He knew that Sakura was hardworking and tried to support others with everything she had, even without seemingly natural talent or a kekkei genkai. He thought that if were him in her place, he would have given up the life of shinobi a long time ago, but he was too lazy to try understanding the stubbornness of some people.

Shikamaru also knew she had given her best smile she had at that moment. Did she not realize the lack of legitimacy in that smile? He hated it for some reason.

* * *

He walked quietly down the hall, counting the stripes that adorned the floor. He was thinking of the last shogi game he had lost to Asuma-sensei. "Shikamaru?" Being taken from his thoughts, he looked up only to be graced with a smile. He met a stunning pair of green eyes looking right at him. As he focused his vision downward, he fixed the eyes on that smile that was adorned with beautiful rosy and fleshy lips and perfect white teeth. For some reason unknown to him, that smile still bothered him.

It had been three months since the Uchiha's defection and he heard Naruto left the village with one of the Legendary Sannin. Shikamaru knew that Naruto was seeking to become stronger. Even though it was for a distant future to become the Hokage, as the boy always stated openly, Shikamaru knew that this absence for training was mainly to regain his lost teammate. He did not understand the reason for Naruto's obsession with the Uchiha's recovery when it was obvious that the boy set out voluntarily in pursuit of his own interests.

He also heard that Haruno Sakura had been welcomed by another of the Sannin, Senju Tsunade. So maybe she was not so seemingly talentless after all. That explained why he had found her once again in the corridor of the old and worn out building.

"I heard you were promoted to chunin, even after the cancellation of the Exam." He heard her say softly. He grunted in agreement.

"I had no choice about that." He grumbled and she laughed lightly causing him to narrow the eyes instinctively.

Every laugh, every smile she gave, there was no glow in her eyes. It bothered him for some reason he could not fathom. He nodded to a few more times to what she said, not really listening and when she muttered a goodbye, he left without looking back this time, thinking that it would be very troublesome to get involved with an emotionally unstable teenage girl.

* * *

Shikamaru entered through the wide doors of the Hokage Tower Library, annoyed at having to search for a specific book. He sighed for the thousandth time that day. It would take all day to scan every dusty book and scroll in that library. Sometimes he hated being promoted to chunin. "No one bothered to ask me if I even wanted this. What a drag." He grunted to himself.

"Shikamaru?" A friendly, gentle voice he recognized easily, made him turn slowly and face the girl he had not seen for a long time.

"It's been a while." Sakura said, as she balanced a pile of books in her arms, making him realize she read a lot and he felt a small twinge of admiration for her. Nowadays it was hard to find someone thirsting for knowledge as she was apparently.

"I think it's been two months." He said absently, recalling clearly their last meeting.

Shikamaru remembered that it had been half a year since her team left, leaving her behind. He looked at her and wondered why she had not given up on becoming a kunoichi.

When he asked about Hatake Kakashi she explained how he had left on a one-year mission, but she only found out after he had already left. He felt sorry for her. She must have felt completely disposable by her sensei. Someone who should be responsible for her training, leaving without even saying goodbye or giving any explanation, right after she was abandoned by the rest of the team, made Shikamaru think that it was a little cruel of Kakashi. He decided not to comment knowing it was only going to rub salt in an open wound.

Shikamaru thought that if he were abandoned by Ino and Chouji for any reason only then to have Asuma leave soon after, not caring to tell him as if it made no difference whether he knew or not, he would surely break.

After stating that she understood Kakashi's motives as well as why Naruto had to leave, she smiled. That same smile that never reached her eyes, so false and without sincerity. He realized that they were more for her than for the people around her. Maybe it was the way she found to move on even after being left by the people she trusted to care for her. People she thought would be with her regardless of the circumstances.

Hearing her speak in a soft voice with a little smile that might well be to hide the tears she wanted to shed, Shikamaru felt like doing something for her. For the first time in a long time he made an effort to help someone, doing some action he thought to be necessary. "Hey, Sakura-chan." He interrupted her, not even worrying about what she was saying at that moment, he didn't listen to anything anyway. "Do you want to come to my house later for a shogi game?" He asked before he could stop himself. He didn't even know if she knew how to play shogi.

He heard her sharply inhale, so soft it would be barely noticeable if he was not paying enough attention. Nodding, she smiled._ 'Ah, that one reached her eyes.'_ He thought as his eyes were drawn to the beautiful, genuine smile that adorned her lips. "I'll be there after lunch." She beamed at him and walked out the library's wide doors.

He watched Haruno disappear into the hallway while the doors swung closed after her and he felt the corner of his own lips twitch in a smile of contentment.

* * *

A torrential rain fell over Konoha, but the kunoichi ignored the water that was beating on her transparent raincoat, as she used chakra on the feet to accelerate the speed at which she got to her intended destination.

It was Thursday afternoon and she would not miss the shogi game that had happened every week for almost one year just because of incessant rain. Sakura remembered the first time she had appeared at Shikamaru's house, after the invitation he had made in the library. She remembered how the game took longer than he obviously expected, and the satisfaction she felt at the surprised look on his face when she won.

He was so happy to find a skilled opponent, as where Asuma and his father who would not let her leave before she made a promise that she would come back next Thursday. Even if she did not say it out loud, the glint in her eyes was proof enough that she was happy with the deal.

Sakura stepped onto the porch and glanced toward the boy who was sitting on a cushion, rearranging the board. The small pull at the corner of his lips let her know that he recognized her. Knowing Shikamaru was too lazy to do two things at once she didn't bother waiting for him to respond. In Shikamaru's book, putting the pieces on the board and greeting her with a smile or a simple 'Hello', was too much effort.

She took off the wet raincoat and hung it on a hook. After taking off her sandals, she walked and sat on the cushion in front of him on the other side of the board. "How was your day?" She took the pieces out of his hands, replacing him in the task of arranging the board, so he could answer her question.

With a long sigh he stared into her face as she absently shuffled game pieces on Shikaku's old shogi's board. Shikamaru told her how he had gone on a mission with his team that morning before the rain. How they were almost caught by the storm outside the village because Ino forced them to accompany her to buy some hair product, which he found completely unnecessary. He made the grave mistake of saying as such out loud which started a fight.

When he declared irritably how sometimes he preferred to go on solo missions, because a team can be problematic, Shikamaru realized that Sakura's movements had stopped abruptly. She was frozen with a hand hovering over one of the pieces. "Sakura-chan?" He asked a little uncertain.

He heard a sob that would have gone unheard over the noise of the rain if he had not been staring directly at her. He wished he had not mentioned a thing about his team, realizing how insensitive it must have seemed in her eyes at that moment. "I didn't mean-"

"It's all right." Sakura's croaky response interrupted him before he could apologize, but he knew from the hoarseness in her voice that she was having trouble not crying. Feeling guilty and completely clueless about how to act, he looked away trying to remember how Chouji calmed Ino when she cried. Crawling closer to her, he pulled his cushion over and sat beside her. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he hoped it was enough to calm her down.

Sakura tried to pay attention to the rainfall. Tried to concentrate her mind completely on the sound and the board in front of her, but when she felt Shikamaru's arm move around her shoulders, something broke inside her. Warm tears streamed down her cheeks and she buried her face in his chest finally allowing herself to break for the first time in a little over a year.

It had been one and a half years since Sasuke had left. She cried almost every day after he was gone. When Naruto left the village with Jiraya, promising to get stronger to bring Sasuke back, she swore to herself that she would grow stronger too. Starting from the inside, strengthening her own spirit. With each passing day after Naruto left, she avoided thinking about how lonely she felt and demanded to herself that she should be strong, for her and for them.

A short time later she discovered belatedly about Kakashi's departure. She felt small, scorned, and utterly useless. Somewhere in her mind, a voice reaffirmed that constantly. Refusing to recognize that voice, she did not allow herself to cry. She told herself that if Kakashi-sensei did not care enough to say he was leaving, let alone leaving here without someone else guide her, then he did not deserve her tears.

But for the first time in over a year, she had someone hug her. Someone who's words threw salt in the open wound she refused to acknowledge, lying to herself that it had healed long ago. Someone who cared if she was hurt and his comfort reminded her of how lonely she had felt all this time. How ridiculous it seemed, that the warm arm around her, made Sakura feel wanted for the first time in a long time, maybe even before her team left.

She did not know how long they were in that position. When she finally calmed down and wiped away the tears with the back of the hands, she allowed herself to look into Shikamaru's eyes. "I'm so sorry." She looked away from his face to the chest and realized that she soaked his shirt with her tears. She attempted to smile as she ran the hands over his shirt in a vain attempt to clean it.

"Don't worry, it'll dry out eventually." He said in a lazy tone that made her want to grin genuinely this time.

Shikamaru felt her hands on his chest. It was only when she shifted on his lap did he then realize for the first time, they were in a very different position from before. He felt a shiver run down his spine, a feeling he had never felt before. When he saw her open her mouth to say something again, he decided not to think about the reasoning for those strange sensations.

"I hate to look so pathetic." She sighed as if she'd lost a difficult battle. "It's been a while since I've felt this way." He heard her say in a lower voice than she usually spoke with. It was followed by a little smile that let him know that she was trying to be strong. He didn't understand why she wanted to pretend with him. It irritated him so much. "I'm sorry for troubling you with all my problems." She said before making a move to get out of his lap.

Shikamaru did not want her to pretend everything was okay when she obviously was not. He definitely did not want her to tell him not to worry about her. He knew that if she got up and went home, she would cry alone all afternoon in her room. The thought made his stomach turn. He hated this feeling, and that was the only reason he wrapped his hands around her hips to stop her from rising. Or at least, that is what he told himself.

"We're friends, are not we?" He asked, hoping she would consider him enough to trust him.

Sakura nodded without thinking twice and buried into his lap even more, taking advantage of the warmth of his hands on her hips and his arms around her waist that shielded her from the cold wind.

"You're a good friend, Shika-kun." She declared with a smile. "Of all our friends, you were the only one who was there." She tucked a strand of his hair that had slipped out of the tight knot, liking the way he leaned into her hand. "Thank you." She whispered.

Shikamaru ignored the use of that ridiculous nickname, which he had banned Ino from using since they were five. He made a mental note to remind himself to tell her no one called him that, but he would talk about it when she was not upset.

He took advantage of the warmth of her hand that slid over his face as she straightened a lock of hair. When he shifted his eyes and saw the shogi board, he remembered the entire purpose of her visit that could be conveniently used to distract her while at the same time help him ignore that foreign sensation that sprouted in him due to their proximity. "Your turn." He pointed to the shogi board.

She did not question his lack of return after the statement she made. Sakura knew he hated talking about complicated and problematic things such as feelings. She turned to the shogi board, letting her mind think up possible strategies to counter his last move.

Shikamaru saw Sakura move a piece on the board to thwart his earlier attempt at her king, glad she was at least somewhere away from dark thoughts. He did not comment on her still sitting on his lap, nor did he take the hands from her hips while her hand played absently with his hair.

He wondered why the contact with her made him feel so good, when he was always so against unnecessary physical contact. Being a user of shadows jutsu, he could achieve just anything without touching. Ino always grumbled when he fled from her embraces and his mother squawked at him every time he evaded the affection she gave freely and most definitely without asking.

Sakura was so close. The scent of her shampoo calming his nerves that had been on edge since the argument with Ino that morning. Her weight warmed his legs as her hand in his hair gave him a sensations he never knew he liked but found welcome.

"Your turn." Her voice took him away from thoughts where he had gotten lost. He turned, looking into her red-rimmed eyes, still boasting a green that he would never tire of admiring. Shikamaru was glad they never miss their afternoon shogi games, even on rainy days.

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**Note:** _I decided to do an extended version of 'The Shadow to my light.' So there's the first chapter._

* I want to thank immensely **_AngusKhan _**for editing this chapter. *


	2. Even with annoying surprises

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

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**Chapter 2: Even with annoying surprises.**

Shikamaru stretched out on the roof as he watched the clouds above him. He had always thought that the porch roof was the best place to rest, his skin warmed by the sun, watching the clouds with varied shapes, while hiding successfully from people who wanted to disturb the peace he so enjoyed.

On that particular day, he was enjoying the resting place to escape from Ino and Choji. Especially Ino, but he would be a dead man if he said that out loud, in fact, he feared even thinking about it, because if she went into his mind and knew that he used to run away from her many times, he would not live to tell the story. Shikamaru liked to live. He had done it for exactly fifteen years.

He watched a few dry orange leaves fall from the trees, the autumn wind taking them away and for a second he wished to be one of those leaves and be carried by the wind, effortlessly, far away, so he would not have to endure anything that Ino was planning on that fateful day.

The presence of a chakra he was not expecting made him rise abruptly and jump out of hiding, landing on the porch of his own home. A few minutes later he was greeted by someone he did not expect. "Happy Birthday." Sakura's cheerful voice greeted him as she climbed the porch steps to face him.

"It's still Wednesday, you're early." He stated, genuinely surprised by her presence. They only met on Thursdays, except when they occasionally met in the village or at the Hokage Tower or when they were sent on missions together.

Shikamaru did not know that he had said the wrong thing until her brows furrowed with obvious irritation, her face changed in warning that he would suffer some kind of pain soon enough. She did not disappoint when she took the bundle from behind her back where she was doing a terrible job of hiding and he did not have time to deflect the blow.

He screamed in pain when something hard connected to his forehead painfully. "You're so violent." He moaned, rubbing where she had hit, hoping to lessen the pain.

"You deserved it." She pouted and looked to the side, giving him a better view of her lips.

He smiled unconsciously at the sight of her acting like a little girl. _'Cute.'_ He felt the eyes widen with that thought that echoed in his mind without him having any control over it. Turning his back and walking toward the house not to look at her for a while, afraid that she might know what he had thought of her.

"Come in." He murmured over the shoulder as he disappeared into the house.

Sakura was surprised by his demand and for the first time since their arrangement had begun, she realized that despite being at his house every week for almost two years, she had never been inside the house. Taking off her sandals and leaving it outside, she crossed the living room and walked to a corridor that apparently led to the bedrooms of the house. She walked slowly, taking the opportunity to look around. The decor was simple but beautiful, she thought it suited the main family of the Shadow Clan.

She reached Shikamaru quickly and saw him open a door, motioning for her to enter. She followed him and he closed the door behind them.

Sakura stood standing in the middle of the bedroom, watching every detail, the bookshelf without a single grain of dust that she knew was Yoshino's work, because Shikamaru was too lazy to keep things clean. The large and spacious bed covered with a olivaceous duvet. A desk that never seemed to be used, and she almost laughed at the thought that he did not even bother to read or study at Academy time and would do much less now that he was almost a jounin.

Shikamaru pointed to the bed. She climbed up and stay in her knees in the middle of the mattress as if the place belonged to her. He stared at her and wondered when their relationship had become so intimate.

Sakura smiled shyly as he sat on the bed facing her. "Here." She held out her hands, handing the package, placing the hands over the thighs and staring at him with obvious expectation.

He took the gift from her hands and a weak laugh escaped his mouth as he saw the almost childish smile that adorned her lips. "What?" He heard her ask with an obviously irritated tone of voice and the pout she made drew his eyes directly to the rosy and fleshy lips of the girl in front of him, making him swallow hard and curse his hormones.

With an inaudible sigh he forced himself to look into her eyes. "You're so happy it feels like you're getting the gift." He explained the reason for the laughter, deciding not to think about the things his body had reacted to over the past few months, and he refused to think about the fact that these reactions occurred only when she was around.

"Just open it." She snapped back with an annoyed pout, completely unaware of the frantic thoughts that spun in the boy's head in front of her.

Shikamaru undid the golden bow and undid the perfect wrapping of black paper decorated with small silver stars, taking out the large object that had hit him minutes before, panting to see the most beautiful shogi board he had seen throughout his short life.

"When you played with that bureaucrat's son in Country Tea on the mission we were to last month, I knew exactly what to give you as a birthday gift. You did not stop praising the board while you played." She laughed at the memory. "From the way you looked at the board I knew you loved it because you never bother to praise or pay attention to anything."

He heard her explanation as he examined every inch of the gift she had given. He knew that last statement made him look like a man without feelings, but against facts, there were no arguments and he did not really bother to praise anything or anyone. She knew him better than he thought.

Shikamaru was also genuinely surprised that she had paid attention to him that day when he thought she was distracted enough with the bureaucrat's son who looked too much like the deserter Uchiha, and for some reason completely unknown to him, the knowledge of knowing that she was paying more attention to him than to someone who looked like the boy she was completely in love with, filled him with satisfaction. "It's perfect, Sakura." He said almost breathlessly, admiring the shogi board, completely missing the way she blushed beautifully when he praised the gift and spoke her name without a usual honorific.

The shogiboard was made of cherry wood and the pieces were made of ivory, stored in a red velvet bag with flower designs sewn with a golden line. He was sure that it cost all the money she earned on that mission and even a little more. Glancing at her with grateful eyes, he scratched the head. "Damn, I'm going to have to try hard on your birthday."

Sakura heard him grumble as he scratched his head and she knew he was thinking a lot at the moment. She stopped for a few seconds, staring at him, realizing for the first time that she knew him too well and that maybe they were spending too much time together, but she did not care, on the contrary, that epiphany made her feel good. "Don't be silly, Shika-kun." She grunted, feeling her cheeks heat up. "I didn't give you this expecting anything in return." She looked at him with such intense affection that it made him look away for a second. "You're my best friend." She said truthfully.

He turned the head abruptly, forcing himself to look at her after that statement. The sincerity in her voice made him feel almost embarrassed, and again he did not question the use of that nickname, as he had a thousand times before, even though he knew Ino would kill him if she knew he allowed Sakura to call him so when he stayed weeks without talking to her until she gave up the nickname.

They had approached each other for the past year and Shikamaru admitted to himself that he was comfortable with her. He told her, things he did not even think to tell Chouji. He allowed her to touch him nonchalantly and even if those moments made him feel a strange heat in his belly, he did not tell her to stop. He blamed her completely for it, because Sakura had an annoyingly sweet way of ripping things off from him even though he did not want to say it. And even as she battled Tsunade daily, her hands were soft and pleasing on his skin. She was so clever she drew him effortlessly. He decided that it was definitely her fault, this closeness. _'Best friend.'_ Surprisingly, that statement pleased him.

"If you say." He said with a playful tone. "You can make things easier for me and choose your gift-"

"No way." She interrupted him. "I don't care if you're going to give me a flower picked from your mother's garden, Nara Shikamaru." She pointed a finger at him. "You're going to put some effort, choosing my birthday gift. I'm not making it easy for you."

Shikamaru wondered where the sweetness that had dominated her tone seconds ago had gone. He discovered that he had said something, probably stupid, to arouse her wrath. "Let's Play." He stated with a smile, deciding to think about her gift, in six months, preferably with a few days left for her fifteenth birthday.

Sakura narrowed the eyes but accepted the change of subject, knowing he had understood the threat. She took the velvet bag and placed a few pieces of ivory inside before she felt Shikamaru's hand falling over hers, interrupting the task she was concentrating on. "What are you doing?" She heard him ask curiously.

"Keeping the pieces in the bag". She answered a little confused by having to say the obvious to a genius. "Let's play on the porch, right?" She asked uncertainly.

"No way." He exclaimed with an almost indignant tone. "This board doesn't leave this bedroom." He stated with conviction, taking the red velvet bag from her hands, spreading the pieces on the bed comforter.

Sakura smiled. "You really like this, huh." She pushed his leg lightly with her bare foot.

He nodded with a smile that matched hers. "It was the best gift I've ever received."

Sakura liked the sincerity in his voice and was even more pleased to have been right in choosing the gift. "You celebrate fifteen years, once." She began to organize the pieces on the board, knowing that he would be grateful to be spared the task. She would let him be lazy, just because it was his birthday.

After forty minutes, Shikamaru won that round and two more after that, making Sakura almost regret giving the gift. "This is enough for today." She jumped out of bed.

"Hey, I'm just warming up." He scoffed, even though he knew the teasing might cost him a black eye or a broken rib.

"Stupid cocky." She grunted and walked to the door.

"We see each other next week?" He asked even knowing that the answer was yes. "Next Thursday or Wednesday, come straight here." He said in a low tone, afraid she would misunderstand. After all, she was a girl and inviting a girl into his bedroom was strange and suggestive, even to his ears.

Sakura turned and leaned against the door. "Actually, we see each other tonight at the main house of the Yamanaka Clan." She knew he would understand the implication of that phrase.

"Urgh." He moaned, falling and his back to the bed. "I should have known that the troubled girl was planning something."

Sakura bit her lip to keep from laughing at his misfortune. "See you later." She waved, leaving the room, running home to get ready for the party that Ino had boasted of planning all week.

* * *

Shikamaru refused to wear anything other than what he wore every day. He had already bathed that morning and would not bother taking another shower. When Ino's high-pitched voice echoed from the house entrance to his bedroom that still had the door closed. He got up from the bed where he'd been lying since Sakura left, pulling on his sandals without bothering to put socks on before, he walked into the living room and stuffed the hands into the pocket as the smiling blonde stared at him.

"This is for you." Ino handed a small package that Shikamaru took from her hands with a nod that she knew was a thank-you.

He opened the green wrapping and felt the corner of his mouth twist in the shadow of a smile. "Thanks." He murmured, taking out the set of shurikens and two kunais that he knew would disappear into the fallen body of some Konoha enemy, before his next birthday. But the intention was what counted and he was glad she cared about him.

"This is not everything." Ino stated as she placed the gift on the corner table in the living room, pulling the unsuspecting boy by the arm, dragging him through the door. "Your real gift will be unforgettable." She smiled so broadly with obvious anticipation on her pretty face. "Let's find Choji."

Shikamaru knew that the gift she was referring to was the birthday party Sakura had mentioned, and he was grateful that she had told him because he would hate to be taken aback. He also knew that Sakura knew how he would be uncomfortable with such a situation, somehow she told him deliberately to alert him. He was grateful that she was so observant as he was.

"It will be the best gift you received. I assure you." Ino's cheerful voice made him realize they were almost at the Yamanaka Clan complex and a knot formed in his stomach as he thought about having to be the center of attention at a party he did not even want in the first place. He also doubted that anything would be able to overcome the thoughtful gift Sakura had given him that morning, but he would never tell Ino.

Turning away from the flowerbeds that adorned the garden, he followed obediently as he sighed, knowing exactly what awaited him, but not being foolish enough to notify Ino of the knowledge she did not know he had.

"Surprise." The shout of their friends broke the silence as Ino turned on the lights in the ballroom at the back of the large, spacious Yamanaka house.

"The best birthday present, right?!" Ino nudged him in the ribs with an elbow and dragged him inside where he was swallowed by Choji's quick embrace.

Choji pointed to the table where the gifts were scattered and smiled at the almost contorted face of Shikamaru who was obviously forcing himself not to appear bored or worse. "I told her that you hate surprises and be the center of attention, but she did not hear me." He whispered to his best friend when Ino was distracted enough in a conversation with Hinata and Kiba.

"Since when does she hear anyone?" Shikamaru snapped.

"Asuma-sensei has not returned from the mission yet." Choji reported, and Shikamaru nodded. "Go enjoy your party." He pushed Shikamaru toward the others and left for the food table.

* * *

"You look so uncomfortable." The girl's amused voice that he had not seen all night made him turn his head to face her. Sakura graced him with a teasing smile as she sat beside him on the roof.

He snorted. "The best gift of all, according to Ino."

Sakura laughed. "You've been friends for how long?" She asked rhetorically. "All life?" She pushed him with her shoulder. "She doesn't know that you hate these things or do it just for the simple pleasure of annoying you."

"Ino does what she wants." He yawned as he stretched. "How you found me?" He looked at her really curious to have been caught when he left the room making sure no one had seen him and masking the chakra just to be sure.

Sakura wanted to say that she saw him hiding on the roof of his house and the Hokake Tower a hundred times but she decided not to reveal the knowledge to him. At that moment Sakura realized that she knew that boy too well. It had been almost two years since they had started the weekly games arrangement and because she was without a team, Tsunade assigned her on missions with his team many times.

Sakura stared up at the sky and felt her heart race to think that she felt too comfortable beside him and that she knew him better than she ever thought of to know Naruto or Sasuke. She knew all the habits, likes and dislikes of Shikamaru and what scared her the most is that everything was reciprocal. She had not noticed the way she felt good when she was with him, and when she did not see him for some days, she missed him to the point of forgetting her team's absence. This discovery frightened her because she had never felt this way, not even with Sasuke.

"You're making a funny expression." His lazy voice made her blink and realize she'd lost in thoughts. She had not even realized he was lying comfortably on the roof, his head resting on her thighs. Unconsciously she reached his hair, undoing the tight knot.

"Why do you hold your hair so tight?" She grunted, tucking the tie into the pocket of the skirt, running her fingers through the black strands.

Shikamaru sighed contentedly as he felt her fingers caressing his hair. He could not remember when she'd done it for the first time, maybe it was when he lay on her lap for the first time, but that did not matter now. All he knew was that the feel of her fingers massaging his scalp was relaxing enough to make him forget the party that was going on right under them. "I tie it tight enough so I don't have to do it more than once a day."

This time Sakura laughed out loud, ignoring his hand that had covered her mouth and the way he complained that she would hand over their location if she did not stop. "This is definitely the laziest thing I've ever heard coming from you." She managed to say as the laughter died in her mouth.

"Shut up." He countered trying to hide the smile that adorned his lips.

When her hand slipped and caressed his ear, he suppressed a moan and rose abruptly. He sat down beside her and felt his hand twitch with the urge to touch her face, seeing her so beautiful under the light of the full moon. "It's getting cold. Let's go home." He declared in a low voice but made no move to leave.

Sakura felt his breath too close to her face and ignored the shiver that had run down her spine, telling herself that it was the cold wind that had caused it. She ignored the way his low voice made her feel strange and she did not realize she was reaching up to touch his hair until she saw his eyes widen. "I'll... I'll fix your hair." She whispered a little lost in the way something seemed to have changed between them at that moment. She ignored that feeling as well.

He turned the head to the other side, grateful to be able to look away from her. Closing the eyes tightly as she stroked his hair, holding much less tight than he used to. "Thanks."

"Let's say goodbye." She jumped off the roof, glancing over her shoulder toward him. "Ino will kill you if you leave without warning." She entered the room without waiting for him, wishing that the whirlwind of emotions she was feeling, would disappear before next week.

Shikamaru sighed and looked at the full moon, running a hand over the face and wishing with all his might that those sensations he was feeling with her proximity would disappear before next week. He did not lose the way she reacted to him, so intensely as he reacted to her. He discovered that she was not as observant as he thought she was, because he thought she was completely unaware that something had changed between them that night.

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**Note:** _Thanks for the reviews. _


	3. Even without my favorite candy

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, ****but I wish he were mine.**

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**Chapter 3: Even without my favorite candy.**

It was Wednesday afternoon and Shikamaru knew she would be in his house any minute. The day of the week she would appear for the weekly shogi game had changed since his fifteenth birthday. He did not question Sakura about the change of day and place of the games and she did not complain about changing the Thursday through Wednesday or the usual place on the porch to his bedroom. If Sakura did not say anything, he would not be the one to bring it up.

Like if she was able to read his mind, and sometimes he thought she could, the bedroom door opened, releasing a seemingly normal Sakura. She slammed the door behind her and walked to the bed, lying next to him. "Yoshino-san left. She said she'd be back before dinner." She stated as she stared at the ceiling fixedly, as if it were the most interesting thing in the world.

He noticed the slightest annoyance in her voice. To anyone other than him, Sakura seemed to be completely normal, but he knew better. She was annoyed at something and it would affect him somehow sooner or later, being a strategist, he decided to solve this problem before it became irreversible. "Just talk, now." He grunted, knowing he would regret it, but he knew she needed to vent, and he would be a horrible best friend if he did not hear her.

"Ino-pig." Sakura answered immediately, between clenched teeth. When she saw Shikamaru turn the head to face her, she turned the head to face him back. She saw him raise a black, well-drawn eyebrow and knew he was asking a silent question.

She knew him well enough to know that that arched eyebrow was his way of asking something without words. _'Lazy bastard.'_ She thought and took a deep breath trying not to discount the anger she was feeling in the innocent boy in front of her, as she used to do with Naruto, all the time before he left Konoha. "We were in the corner shop, talking." She saw his expression change subtly, but being a _Shikamaru-feature expert_, after an intensive course in the years with Kakashi, trying to figure out what he meant with just one eye. She clarified quickly. "Ino, Tenten and Hinata. A meeting girls."

When he nodded, she continued. "Ino-pig decided today was a great day to talk about kissing." She ignored the frustrated groan that came from his throat. "You'll hear me." She snapped, nudging him on the ribs with the elbow. "She babbled about how good it was to kiss and how incredible the sensations were, and something about someone's tongue inside Ino's mouth made my stomach turn." She saw the disgusted face he made and smiled, glad he almost always agreed with her on the important matters.

She averted the eyes from his face, feeling uncomfortable about what she would say next. "The worst part was when she began to despise me, saying that I'll never know the feeling, since I'm going to die waiting for Sasuke-kun's return." Sakura did not understand why she did not want Shikamaru to hear her talk about Sasuke, then she tried to ignore that annoying feeling and continued, allowing the anger she was feeling from Ino to cover the strange feeling. "That noisy girl had the nerve to say loud enough for everyone in the shop to hear."

Shikamaru knew that Sasuke, like Naruto and Kakashi, was a painful subject to Sakura. But hearing about the Uchiha while she was lying on his bed beside him, made Shikamaru feel something burn in the stomach, and it was not the delicious feeling of warmth that usually came with her closeness.

He ignored it and concentrated on what she had said.

He had not seen Ino for some time since the annoying party she organized for him, but he thought the next time he saw her, he would talk to her about not mentioning Sakura's missing team. If he remembers, of course. And if he was in the mood to face that volatile girl. On second thought, defending Sakura, would incite Ino to ask a series of questions that he was not willing to answer. _'Nevermind.'_ He decided that Sakura was able to defend herself against Ino and other even more dangerous threats.

"Do you believe after that, she forced Tenten to talk about her experiences?" Sakura turned the body to the side, staring at him completely. "Did you know that even Hinata kissed someone?" She asked with an indignant tone and realized that Shikamaru tried to contain the surprise that surrounded him after that statement. "Apparently it was an accident, but she was kissed anyway." She clarified.

Shikamaru thought that if it had been an accident, it was more understandable, because he doubted that Hinata would kiss someone willingly. He focused on the girl lying in front of him. "Why is this bothering you?" He decided to find out the reason for her irritation and to help her overcome the terrible mood that was emanating from her in waves, so they could play shogi, lie on the roof and watch the clouds and then eat the dinner that his mother would prepare when the night fell in Konoha, before Sakura leaves to her house.

"Urgh, why do people call you genius." She snapped back angrily and then regretted it when she saw that he felt visibly offended. Sighing in defeat, she assumed a less aggressive tone. "It's just that, according to your teammate, all our friends have kissed someone. Even Hinata kissed Shino when she accidentally stumbled on him."

Shikamaru frowned as he discovered that Shino had kissed someone and he had not. "How problematic." Somehow that knowledge irritated him.

"Yeah... that's right. Shino kissed someone, too." Sakura said cunningly, realizing that the look of indignation on his face was due to a blow struck directly at his male ego. "It's only the two of us." She turned and looked at the ceiling with an audible snort. "According to Ino." She added late.

"Do you want?" After a few minutes of silence Shikamaru's voice echoed through the room, and Sakura realized that his voice was a little lower than usual, almost timid.

She turned the head again to face him. "Kiss?" She asked uncertainly, just to make sure they were still on the same subject.

He nodded and did not lose the way her cheeks heated up, leaving a light pink tone. "I don't want to lose to Ino-pig." She declared angrily.

"Of course you not." He became very knowledgeable about the rivalry between the two girls during the last years. "So you want to kiss." He insisted, not taking his eyes from hers, watching every reaction.

Sakura thought he was judging, for she wanting something just because everyone had and she did not, so she took a defensive stance. "You can't judge me, Shikamaru." She tapped a finger on his chest. "I know you did not kiss anyone because of the face you did when I mentioned that Shino had kissed Hinata, and I know you well enough to know that-" Sakura felt the words die in her mouth and her eyes widened as she went interrupted as audaciously as possible.

Shikamaru did not know what had taken over his mind as he cupped her face with both hands and sealed their lips together. _'At least, she shut up.'_ He thought triumphantly, holding back a smile.

He looked into her eyes as he kept their lips together, thinking that those green orbs were almost hypnotizing. He saw surprise reflecting on them, but the anger that was there before, completely disappeared and that satisfied him. Her lips were soft as he thought they would be, and he would never admit it to anyone, but he would look at her lips many times, wondering what it would be like to touch them.

He tasted something sweet and not having the strength to resist, he slid the tongue over her lips, making her gasp in surprise. He pulled away reluctantly, but did not look away and was almost ecstatic when she did not, as well. "Now you kissed." He smiled at her. "You can rub it in Ino's face." He hoped that this last part kept him alive after that daring action.

Sakura bit the lower lip, feeling completely shy suddenly, not realizing that his eyes was drawn directly to her lips. "You licked me." She whispered.

He swallowed hard and for the first time in his life, his brain had left him to deal with a mess on his own. "You tasted good." He hoped the compliment was enough to keep her calm, because the last thing he wanted was to arouse her fury.

"Oh." She exclaimed, startling him. "It must be because I ate strawberry daifuku when I was in the store with the girls."

"My favorite candy." He said in a husky voice, approaching her one more time. "You brought none for me." He snapped back with a pang of irritation.

"Sorry, Shika." She bit the lip again, finding that attitude completely unlike Shikamaru.

He saw Sakura bite the lip again and this time he moaned audibly. He did not know if that moan was in frustration at not being able to deal with the swirling emotions that flooded him, or whether it was because she was acting so shy and almost submissive when she was usually so independent and confident. Everything in his mind screamed that this change in attitude was because of him, not because of some Uchiha or any other boy.

He looked up, staring at hers, he knew she had wide eyes because of the sound he had uttered, seconds ago. Before he could think about it much, not bothering to explain the motive of that moan, which he did not even want to analyze the motive at that moment, he took her face in his hands once more, indulging in the desire to bite her lip, as he had seen her do before.

Sakura gasped again as she felt his teeth brush against her lower lip. "Shikamaru!" She screamed in complete alarm as he pulled away. "If you want it so much, I can go out and buy a strawberry daifuku for you."

He ignored her, not wanting to explain to her that the last thing on his mind was that candy, tangled fingers in the hair on the back of her head, he pulled her impossibly closer and sealed their lips together again. This time he closed the eyes, allowing himself to completely lose control, plunging the tongue into her mouth the moment she made the mistake of opening the mouth. He repeated in his mind, time after time, that he was only doing it because she tasted daifuku, not because her lips were deliciously soft and her mouth was wet and tempting.

Sakura did not know what was going on in Shikamaru's mind and she did not care. She did not try to pull away from his grasp, even knowing she could do it effortlessly if she wanted to. And she decided not to think of the fear she felt in the back of her mind because she definitely did not want to move away from him in that moment. Closing the eyes as she felt his tongue slide over hers, moving the lips and tongue to follow his movements, she told herself that she was allowing that, only to rub on Ino's face.

When they both separated feeling need to breathe again, Shikamaru moved the mouth away from hers, but kept the hands tangled in her hair, enjoying the softness of those strangely colored strands on the skin of the callused fingers. Seeing how he was still lying comfortably in his bed and not stuck in a wall, due to a deadly punch from Sakura, he concluded that she was not offended by his attitude and hopefully she might even have liked it, he thought belatedly, but he shook the head to ward off that treacherous thought.

They stood for a while, looking at each other, sharing a silly smile and peaceful tranquility. Both of them were happy that nothing nothing has changed between them after that intense kissing session. Deep down, each of them had their own insecurities.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Sakura's hand reached the dark-haired of the Shadows's Clan heir, undoing the loop that held the black wires in an unnecessarily firm grip.

He sighed with relief as she released the strings and he thought how no one before her, had touched his hair like that. Her fingers tangled in the dark strands, and he admitted to himself, once more, that the sensation was incredible. When he felt her fingernails scrape his scalp, he groaned unconsciously, burying the face in the pillow beneath him, ashamed to make that sound again. "Damn, Sakura." His voice was muffled by the pillow. "What are you doing to me?" He asked in an almost desperate tone, feeling frustrated with himself for not being able to stop making those awkward sounds in front of her.

She smiled almost maliciously at his reaction to her ministrations. Something like satisfaction crept into her skin when she knew that had some power over him. "The same as you're doing to me, I guess." She admitted, before she could stop herself, and contrary to what she thought, rather than exposed, she felt relieved to be honest with him. Her voice came out as a low whisper and she could not resist the urge to pull his hair when he finally dug the face from the pillow and stared at her.

He groaned again when he felt that small and strong fingers, pulling his hair. With that not so subtle gesture, he was sure she was teasing him, intentionally.

Snarling at himself and at her in warning. He turned her around suddenly, forcing her to lie back on the bed. Placing half of the body on top of her slender body. He put one arm beside her face, supporting his weight, while his other hand tangled in her hair, resting a leg between her legs, sighing almost painful, realizing that position was better than he imagined.

In his mind he blamed her for the reactions he was having. If she was not so beautiful and provocative, he would not act that way. It was definitely her fault. "Damn hormones." He grunted to himself.

Without asking permission or waiting for her approval, he kissed her again, getting lost in the muffled sighs she was trying in vain to control. He felt the small, but powerful, hands of her, tightening the black shirt he wore and that movement only made him feel more secure than he was doing.

When he drew back to breathe, placing the forehead on hers, he saw her eyes closed and the tongue sliding down in the now red and swollen beautiful lips. He bit her lower lip slightly and was completely surprised when she moaned loudly.

Sakura opened the eyes abruptly and felt her face heat up even more, feeling disconcerted to have uttered that sound, and she understood why Shikamaru buried the face in the pillow at that moment. But the position they were in, prevented her from hiding from his sight, which she thought was unfair.

"Beautiful." He whispered, allowing his eyes to examine every inch of her face, realizing that they had never been so close each other before. He liked to reverse the roles, making her moan, shy and exposed to him.

"You ... I ... Shikamaru." She stammered, squirming underneath him.

Shikamaru smiled widely, loving to see how she was responding and the way she called his name. He brushed a strand of hair from her face and kissed the tip of the nose covered with delicate freckles. "You're so beautiful, Sakura." He ran the thumb down her delicate cheek, feeling a softness of the skin, making him wonder how such a powerful and destructive girl could be so soft and delicate at the same time.

"Thank you." She whispered. "You're pretty too." She complimented him back and when he blushed adoringly, she realized that game they were playing, to find out who could take an even bigger reaction from the other, was dangerous, but fun and exciting like a good shogi game was. "I've always found you incredibly charming, despite all this laziness." She continued, making him blush an even more vibrant shade of red.

"I'm not charming." He retorted, but did not leave her, enjoying the position they were in.

"If I say you are, then you are." She stated in a tone that reminded him of Godaime Tsunade, letting him know that it was best not to question.

Before he ran the risk of saying something wrong and being hit by a hard blow, he caught her chin and plunged into her lips, moaning at the satisfying sensation. He was entranced at the way she responded to him so readily and when his hands settled beneath her blouse, resting on the skin of her waist, without her complaining or stopping him, he decided that she was his, and that maybe having Sakura as girlfriend was not so problematic.

Sakura shuddered as his warm hand rested beneath her blouse, and even if alarms rang in her head, screaming for her to push him away, she ignored it, telling herself it was just a kissing session with her best friend and if no one besides they knew, there would be no damage. Sakura did not tell Ino anything, deciding that some things were better when kept secret.

After that day, Wednesday's afternoons were filled with a much more pleasurable game that required far more strategy than shogi.

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**Note:** _Thanks for every review. Your comments are inspiring __to continue__._


	4. Even if you don't know

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, If I did, Shikamaru would be Naruto's best friend, officially.**

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**Chapter 4: Even if you don't know.**

The bitter wind blew across her face and sent strands of pink hair everywhere, causing Sakura to curse internally for cutting her hair too short to make a ponytail. She landed gracefully on the roof of the Shadow Clan's main house and stepped through the open bedroom window, suspecting the Shikamaru's new habit of leaving the window open was just for her.

Leaving her sandals in the corner, she walked to the bed where Shikamaru was lazily dozing. Before she could contain it, a smile tugged at the corner of her lips. His long dark hair was loose and spread across the pillow. She bit her lip unconsciously while looking at him. She had to admit that he was very handsome, even when he slept. It seemed he would only get more so as time went by.

Placing the box containing half a dozen strawberry daifuku on the bedside table, Sakura sat beside him on the bed. She reached out to stroke his face lightly with her fingertips. A hand snatched her wrist firmly, which didn't really surprise her, after all, she knew that approaching a sleeping shinobi was never a very wise idea.

"Sorry." He muttered a little sleepily when he opened his eyes and saw Sakura's face hovering a few inches above him. Instead of releasing her wrist, he pulled her down and curled around her, refusing to get up when the mattress was so comfortable and the afternoon so quiet.

Sakura landed on him, and knowing that squirming or complaining wouldn't change anything, she gave up before even an argument start and laid her head on his chest, enjoying the comforting sound of his heartbeat.

"I brought daifuku." She said in a low tone and relaxed over his body, deciding to join him in that haze of laziness and tranquility. "How long have you been sleeping?" She asked.

"I wasn't sleeping." He replied with a yawn, making it clearly obvious that this statement was a lie. "I was just resting my eyes." He added.

Sakura tried to suppress a laugh, but it ended up making her snort instead. "Ino won't like to know you're imitating her around." Shikamaru's amused voice, indicating that he was smiling blatantly, made Sakura completely lose control.

"She will kill you." She said between laughs, burying the face even more in his chest.

"Only if you tell her I said that." Shikamaru replied.

"Oh, I can't wait to see her face when I do." She answered when stopped laughing.

Shikamaru turned Sakura in one swift motion, preventing her from counterattacking, hovering over her body. "You wouldn't..."He narrowed his eyes trying to look intimidating, but deep down he knew he looked anything but.

A grin overtook her face and she let out a mocking laugh, just as Shikamaru had predicted. "I'm not afraid of you, dummy." She declared defiant, intentionally teasing him.

"Oh really?" He asked with a sarcastic tone and a crooked smile.

Sakura stopped laughing when she saw the smile on his face. "Don't do anything you'll regret later." She stated seriously, knowing that he was planning something that would surely not be very pleasant for her.

Shikamaru ignored the threatening tone that was present in her voice and held her even tighter. "Shikamaru." Sakura's angry voice only made him smile even more.

He loved it when she sounded threatening, even though he hated it, when this threats came with a painful blow. The way she narrowed her eyes and spoke defiant words in a low, hoarse voice did stranger things in his body and he liked the feeling of imminent danger, maybe it was because he was a shinobi, or he could just be some kind of masochist.

When his long fingers landed on her waist, below her red vest, he felt Sakura squirm. "Don't you dare, Nara Shikamaru." She growled heatedly, but he ignored it. Soon after Sakura's uncontrolled giggles echoed around the room. Shikamaru laughed with her, not resisting seeing the girl squirming beneath him and laughing like a child.

Sakura's hand hit him hard on the head, knocking him off her, stopping the tickling attack abruptly. Shikamaru's groan of pain was the only sound that echoed through the room after the laughter had stopped. "I hate tickles!" Sakura stated irritably, standing and walking to the window, not bothering to apologize for hitting him hard, even without the use of chakra. She didn't feel guilty.

He knew she hated ticklish since he had seen Kiba do this to her once and end up in the hospital after a chakra-reinforced blow to the stomach and Sakura's refusal to heal the poor boy. Shikamaru wouldn't apologize either, because he didn't feel guilty at all for tickling her, but he wouldn't dare tell her.

"Hey." He stopped her from leaving, gripping her arm before she could get too far from the bed. "Our game?" He asked hopefully, deciding not to talk about the painful blow and irritate her further.

"Hn." She crossed both arms over the chest and refused to answer, but her staying in the room was a sign that she wouldn't leave, if he played the right cards.

Shikamaru was too tired to get up, so he quickly thought of a strategy to keep her in that room. "There's something for you in the closet." He pointed to the double door in the corner of the room and when her face changed from anger to curiosity, he mentally congratulated himself.

Sakura hated to admit it to herself and would never say it out loud, but Shikamaru had learned too quickly how to push the right buttons to get what he wanted from her, and somehow it scared and aroused her curiosity at the same time, because she never knew what he would take from his strategy arsenal, been tiptoeing made her feel alive.

She always thought that when she had a romantic relationship with Sasuke it would be just like that, even if deep down she knew Sasuke would never treat her like Shikamaru did, and for the first time that thought didn't bring a bitter taste to her mouth. Looking at the boy lying in bed with both arms behind his head with a little smile on the corner of his lips as he watched her, she thought Shikamaru was a good to her, even if she had no idea what kind of relationship they currently had.

It had been a few months since they first kissed and the week after the incident, as she used to call it in her head, Shikamaru did the unexpected and kissed her again in greeting when she came by. Although they never talked about the first kiss or what they were to each other, besides friends and game partners, Sakura didn't refuse his kisses or push him away when he let the hands roam under her shirt.

Putting the thoughts aside, not wanting to think too much about what she meant to him, deciding she wasn't willing to hurt herself unnecessarily if he said something she didn't want to hear, because she didn't wanted to put away the only person who had given her a chance for closeness beyond Tsunade and Shizune.

Sakura reached the closet and pulled out a green box with a gold ribbon and sat on the bed, staring at Shikamaru with a suspicious look. "Open it." He said with raised eyebrows, not understanding why she was hesitant.

Sakura obeyed and undid the golden ribbon, opening the box to see a beautiful piece of dark blue cloth decorated with pink cherry blossoms. "What is-"

"Your birthday gift." He answered before she finished the question. He sat on the bed, leaning back against the headboard and pulling the cloth out of the box, placing it on her lap. "You were on a mission last week and I forgot to give you when you came by last Wednesday." He explained.

Sakura gasped as she realized that thing blue was actually a yukata. "It's beautiful." She exclaimed with genuine surprise to see how beautiful the yukata was in her hands. The rich indigo was reminiscent of Konoha's night sky in winter. The cherry blossoms were delicate and looked as if to be painted. The material a soft silk cotton blend. It must have cost a lot of money and dedication, and it made her feeling important. "Thank you Shika." A sincere smile and faint blush adorned her cheeks.

Shikamaru was mesmerized by the way she looked at him, he wished he had bought more than one gift if that was the reward. The look of gratitude made him mean that it was nothing compared to what he wanted to give her, that if he knew what would make her smile that way, only to him every day, he would go to the ends of Snowland, wearing nothing but a ninja shirt. "Hn." It was the only sound he made instead, because expressing feelings was never his strong point and he knew she knew it.

"I'll wear it to the Konoha Festival this weekend." She said while looking in the mirror, holding the yukata against her frame. Shikamaru resisted the urge to tell her he wouldn't mind if she wanted to try on the garment right there.

Sakura suddenly turned around with a dazzling smiling lighting her features. "I just remembered! Naruto is coming to the Festival."

For some reason Shikamaru felt a knot forming in his stomach as he saw the perfect smile on her face when the reason for that smile was her former teammate. He bit the tongue to not say that the possibility of Naruto appearing was minimal, but even though that smile, aimed at Naruto, bothered him, he didn't want to hurt her.

He also did not invite her to join him, as he had planned since he bought that yukata, nor did he mention that bought it exclusively for her to be his date. And at that moment Shikamaru thought that maybe Sakura didn't know they were together, even though he thought it was obvious if considered the amount of physical contact they had lately.

"Are you planning on going with Naruto?" He asked trying to look casual and knew he was succeeding, because seeming uninterested was his specialty.

Sakura put the yukata in the box and kept the smile on face, nodding with conviction. "We have a lot to catch up on, I haven't seen him in almost two years..."

Shikamaru took the shogi board from the drawer beside the bed and listened as she rambled about the letter Naruto sent, saying that he would be back soon and asking her to wait for him to go to the Konoha Shinobi Festival together. While he listened Sakura talking, he ignored the knot in his stomach as best he could, refusing to acknowledge that it could be something like jealousy.

After forty minutes he lost the game, and in his mind he blamed Sakura for spending almost an hour talking about her old team and smiling in a way he didn't see her smile in a long time, he was even angrier when she thanked him for provide the perfect outfit for the Festival.

Just the thought of her wearing the clothes he'd spent time and energy choosing, made something inside him explode, because she should wear that yukata to him and go to the Festival with him, only him. With that last thought he admitted that he was jealous.

One second later Sakura put the shogi board back in the drawer, he pulled her into his lap and kissed her without warning. He knew the tightness in her hair and waist might be a little painful, but he really didn't care because he needed her so bad, that it hurt him too. When Sakura wiggled in his grasp just enough to put her legs on either side of him, he got lost in her completely.

After a few minutes Sakura pushed him abruptly. "I need to breathe, Shika." She said, obviously breathless. "What happened with you?" She asked alarmed and tried to get off his lap but was prevented by both his hands on her hip. He sighed with relief as she relaxed into his lap again and ran her hands through his loose hair. "You have never done this before." She added shyly after not receiving an answer from him.

He stroked her cheek and settled on the headboard to bring her closer, even though it seemed humanly impossible. "Did you like it?" He asked, ignoring the warmth that washed over his own face whit that question. Internally he cursed himself for losing control like that and realized for the first time he was more possessive than he would like to admit.

She looked away and bit the lower lip. To Shikamaru it was answer enough. He laced his fingers through her hair and brought her face down, sealing their lips together again.

Sakura felt things she had never felt before, warmth washed over her belly and she resisted the urge to snuggle further into his lap, remembering what Tsunade had told her about teenage boys and hormones. She didn't understand why Shikamaru was being rather aggressive, but she didn't resist and realized she liked what he was doing with her.

She wondered if boyfriends acted that way and once again the thought of being rejected invaded her thoughts causing her to walk away and make up a silly excuse before heading out the window with the promise of meeting him at that weekend's Festival sometime.

Jumping across the rooftops toward her house, she decided that next time she would have the courage to confront Shikamaru about what she was to him, even if the answer hurt her in some way.

If he said they were only friends, she could at least continue to have him around.

* * *

An hour before sunset and Sakura walked as fast as she could manage, using geta on her feet and the tight obi holding the yukata firmly against her slim waist.

She entered Tsunade's office after being announced and tried not to look anxious as she hurried into the room. "Shishou." She greeted Tsunade with a smile. Glancing around she noticed the absence of people in place and frowned unconsciously. "Are they late?" She asked, trying not to look annoyed.

Tsunade leaned back in the chair, nursing her cup, making Sakura prepare for something not so good. "They're not coming, Sakura." The words echoed around the room and reached her like a kunai. "At least not for today." She added belatedly.

"Tomorrow?" She asked.

Tsunade thought at that moment Sakura looked a lot like the twelve-year-old girl that came to her nearly two years ago, begging to be trained. She hated having to kill the hope that shone in her student's eyes, choosing not to speak, she held out a scroll to the girl.

The words on the paper made her shoulders sink and she felt ridiculous in that outfit that made her feel so good just moments before. "They're not coming." She muttered after reading Jiraya's letter stating that he decided to take Naruto to another country for a few more months before completing the training.

"Don't you dare back to your house." Tsunade's commanding voice brought Sakura back to reality. "You're too pretty to lie down and brood over Naruto's absence." She took another sip of sake. "Have fun for me too."

"Hai." Sakura answered automatically, used to never saying no to that authoritarian woman.

"It's an order, Sakura." Tsunade's voice followed her down the corridor, making her look up and nod to herself, willing not to waste another night crying over her longing for a team that didn't exist long ago.

* * *

It was not difficult to find Ino in the crowd. All it took was the sound of a loud, shrill laugh echoing among the people passing the streets. She walked toward the blonde flash she'd seen and smiled when she saw Shikamaru's back that was unmistakable, due to the oddly shaped hair he sported.

Sakura resisted the urge to hit her own forehead when Ino saw her and started shouting her name and waving a arm in the air frantically. "They could hear you from Suna." Sakura murmured as she approached of the friend.

"Where is Naruto?" Ino asked, ignoring Sakura's earlier comment.

"He is not coming." She responded by trying to sound as carefree as possible and hoped it was working.

"Still training?" Choji asked between bites of candy on a stick.

Sakura turned to face him and was almost mesmerized to see Shikamaru up close for the first time. She took the time to absorb his appearance, the hair was just as usual, but the outfit made him look like a clan's heir. The graffiti-color kimono with the Shadow Clan insignia embroidered with a silver line embossing his left chest made everything even better.

"Forehead." Ino's voice snapped her out of the daze she hadn't even noticed had fallen. She hoped she hadn't been in a trance for so long and answered Choji's question, taking the opportunity to slap Ino lightly on the arm over the ridiculous nickname she still used for her.

Some time later Hinata, Shino, Kiba and Akamaru appeared and joined them and despite the welcome distraction, Sakura found herself stealing glances toward Shikamaru all night long and the memory of the promise she had made to herself returned. She just needed the right moment to confront him.

* * *

"You look great." She grunted near his ear as they walked a little behind the group that had grown even bigger with the arrival of the Team Gai.

Shikamaru walked slower and looked her up and down slowly, Sakura didn't miss the way his eyes lingered on the curves of her body more than Shizune would consider appropriate. "Hey." She patted his shoulder. "My eyes are up here." She pointed to the pair of bright emeralds that even the darkness of night could not erase.

"I made the right choice." He grunted, pointing to the yukata she wore, before looking away from her and putting the arms behind the head, shufflingthe feet in the woods shoes, across the floor of the crowded streets. "And your hair is short." He added, hoping she knew he noticed her new haircut, with which he particularly found her even cuter.

Sakura knew he wasn't the type to voice his thoughts, but the way he didn't even compliment her correctly annoyed her and she knew it was an accumulation of insecurity that had come over her in the last few days, but that irritation would be enough for give the courage she needed to face him. "Can't you even give a decent compliment?" She said through clenched teeth, her tone low but loud enough for him to hear about the noise of the crowd.

His raised eyebrows and the way he didn't even blink at her reaction told her he wouldn't give an answer. After a few seconds of silence and the fact that he kept walking and looking forward was the confirmation of her suspicion. "Urgh, you're so unnerving." She grunted and looked ahead, realizing that they had lost the others friends in the way.

"Shikamaru?" She decided not to cower and take those doubts from her chest once and for all.

Shikamaru stopped walking at the almost desperate tone in which she called his name. He knew she was annoyed with him for a lack of proper compliment, but her disconsolate face made him feel guilty, which he didn't often feel, but as always, Sakura aroused unwanted changes in him more often than not. "You look beautiful." He whispered in her ear, hoping it was enough to calm her down.

Sakura blinked a few times upon hearing that sentence, the way he whispered in her ear sent shivers all over her body. She bit the lip realizing that all the irritation she was feeling disappeared with a single sentence coming out of that stupid mouth. "What am I for you?" She felt a ball of nerves forming in the belly and the feeling of insecurity flooded her again like a river.

She saw Shikamaru incline the head and his confused expression made her realize that perhaps objectivity was not present in her question. "You're Sakura." He replied with a frown. "Sakura." He repeated, allowing her name to slide across his tongue and reach her.

Shikamaru's brain was working quickly to unravel the possible reasons behind that question, he said the first thing that came into his mind hoping the resolution would come any second, because after seeing her face as she explained to him, Ino and Choji why Naruto wasn't coming back to Konoha anytime soon, the last thing he wanted was to make her even more unhappy that night.

Images of all the moments they spent together locked in his room playing shogi and doing other more stimulating things invaded his mind and he remembered something crucial.

They never talked about the kiss, they never talked about the changes in the dynamics of their relationship, he never explicitly told her how much he wanted her, he never mentioned that they were together and they never really been on a date. He didn't care about it in the last six months because he was too lazy to make any effort about any of these things, but at that moment he realized the mistake there was committed when he remembered how insecure Sakura could be.

Looking at the spectacular girl who was beautifully standing in front of him, Shikamaru found the resolution to that problem, easily.

"You're mine, Sakura." He added before wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling to him. He ignored the way she gasped and widened her eyes in obvious surprise after his statement, making him realize she had no idea they were together in a romantic relationship. He decided to fix that communication failure, sealing his lips to hers, not waiting for permission before plunging his tongue into her mouth, taking everything he could.

Sakura relaxed in his embrace, feeling every bit of insecurity becoming more and more insignificant with every inch he pulled her close. She realized that they were more than friends and partners of shogi and the thought made her feel complete.

They did not see the fireworks that exploded in the dark sky, did not hear the shouts and applause of the surrounding citizens, too busy watching the rain of lights in the sky to notice a young couple kissing. To them, all that existed at that moment was the certainty that they belonged to each other.

* * *

_*Edited by **Anguskhan***_


	5. Even with your jealousy

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto, ****If I did, Inoichi and Shikaku would be alive.**

Beta Reader: _AngusKhan_

* * *

**Chapter 5: Even with your jealousy.**

Sakura didn't know how long she had been sleeping, but judging from the color of the sky and the orange of the sun that invaded the bedroom window, she knew it was almost sunset time. "Damn." She muttered and tore the blanket off her, leaping off the bed.

"Looking at you moving like this, gives me fatigue." Shikamaru's lazy voice echoed through the silent room.

Sakura let out a startled scream. Turning abruptly toward the voice with a hand over her chest to try to calm her heartbeat. "Don't do that." She warned weakly, still half drowsily.

"You didn't come by." He stated without anger or accusation while lifting from the chair where he was sitting and looked away, scratching the neck in a gesture that reminded Sakura of Kakashi. "I just came to see if everything was fine."

She knew he was probably very worried, but that phrase was every concern he would let on for her, but she was fine with it.

"The mission took longer than expected. We arrived at dawn." She explained. "I think I overslept, sorry."

Sakura had been gone on a five-day mission. If the mission had gone flawlessly, she could have returned before Wednesday, but the squad had poison problems and there was an unexpected attack of missing ninjas. They arrived in the village just as the sun rose. All she remembered after giving her report was tearing off her filthy clothes and lying in bed, waiting for her body to wake her in time to see Shikamaru.

Shikamaru's eyes roamed over Sakura's body, starting with the shapely, tanned legs that were exposed due to lack of shorts. His eyes moving toward her belly, just above her breasts that he realized had grown too large with passing of the years, despite what Kiba used to say, mocking that Sakura was the least favored among girls. The red sports bra was doing a terrible job of keeping Shikamaru's mind away from thoughts he knew would make Sakura punch him.

"You're fine." He muttered absently. "I mean, it's fine." He corrected himself.

Sakura looked down and realized she was wearing only a red top and black panties. "Shikamaru, don't look." She shouted angrily, more at herself for forgetting she was almost naked, than at him for looking.

She shoved him away and walked over to the wardrobe, murmuring for him to keep the eyes closed as she searched for something to cover up.

Shikamaru used to be an obedient boy, he knew that disobeying the women around him was problematic, but this time the temptation was greater than the fear of punishment, and he decided that keeping his eyes open was a good deal at the moment.

He watched in awe as she bent to grab something from the underside of the wardrobe, giving him a vision he swore to himself that he would never forget.

Sakura found a loose green sundress that would be perfect to cover her, quickly wearing the dress, she turned to find Shikamaru with the eyes closed and both hands in his pockets. "You can open your eyes now." She said with a smile, glad he had obeyed.

His expression softened when he saw her dressed like a civilian. Walking toward her, he admired how cute she looked, face newly woken up. He brushed a pink strand away from her face and kissed her lightly on the forehead. "You're look very cute. But I still prefer what you were wearing before."

Sakura patted his shoulder, suppressing a laugh. She was getting used to the fact that Shikamaru expressed his thoughts about her more often, after the misunderstanding that had occurred at the Festival that had happened a few months ago. He complimented her so much more now and she appreciated the way he looked at her, making her feel wanted.

"Let's go." She walked to the bedroom window and left, hopping on the roof of her parents's house, knowing he would follow her wherever she decided to go.

* * *

"I win." Shikamaru murmured with a smile on the corner of his lips.

"Another round." Sakura replied, willing to demand a rematch.

"It's late." He replied, lying on the bed, knowing she would pack up the shogi's pieces saving him from the task. "It's almost dinner time. Mom's making grilled fish."

"I love Yoshino-san's grilled fish." She tried not to salivate at the thought of the delicious food that was waiting for them, while packing up the shogi pieces.

After put the shogi board in the drawer beside the bed, she lay on the mattress beside him. "Want to do something tomorrow?" She asked hopefully. Wishing to spend time with him after almost a week away from Konoha.

"I want to," he turned toward her, putting his hands around her waist bringing her close, "But I have an important stuff I need to take care of." He hated watching her hopeful expression fall but knowing that she really wanted to spend time with him made him feel a bit better.

"What is so important?" She grunted and snuggled into his chest.

"I'm going to spend the afternoon with Temari." Sikamaru answered in a completely disinterested tone. He hadn't thought that phrase could be misinterpreted, but when he felt Sakura stiffen in his arms, he regretted not having formulated the words more insightfully.

"Right." Sakura put both hands on his chest, pushing him away with the skill of a well-trained kunoichi, jumping out of bed, shortly thereafter. "Have fun with Temari."

"Sakura." He called, getting out of bed, walking over to her before she disappeared from the room without him having a chance to ask what he'd done wrong this time. "What's wrong?"

Sakura tried to ignore the kicked-puppy look on his face and focused on the anger she felt when she knew he would rather be with another girl than her.

"You're so unconscious sometimes." She mumbled and slipped out of his grip easily, turning her back again and walking toward the door this time, thinking it would be rude to leave without saying goodbye to his parents since she had walked through the front door this time.

"Seriously, Sakura..." He insisted not wanting to miss this argument. He was already annoyed that she could easily escape his grasp, and the thought made him wonder if she would be as successful against his shadows.

"I really want to know what pissed you off." He decided to focus on the pending issue rather than the interesting fight against her that he created in his own head, and for some reason the idea of sparing with Sakura wearing that dress excited him in many different ways.

"You can be pretty slow for some things, genius." She snapped and stopped before him. If he wanted an argument then she would give him one.

Shikamaru felt his left eye twitch with that provocation. He knew she had done it on purpose because she was the only person who knew he liked the title of genius. To everyone else he pretended not to be interested, but Sakura said she could see his false modesty even with the eyes closed. He didn't dispute, she could actually read him as if he were one of the library medical scrolls she loved so much.

Narrowing the eyes, he crossed both arms over his chest. "Let me remember how it started." He mumbled to himself. "We were lying comfortably in bed when you asked me out and I had to deny because I have a meeting with Temari to decide the details of the next Chunin exam, which you happen to be apart-"

"Why the hell didn't you say it was about the damn Chuunin exam." She shouted angrily, the cheeks turning pink in embarrassment. At that moment she felt ridiculous for being jealous and it was all Shikamaru's fault for not being the things clear to her.

Shikamaru felt his eyebrows rise in surprise. "What else I would be doing with Temari?" He asked genuinely curious about was going on in Sakura's mind.

"Forget it." She grunted.

"I don't want to forget. I want to know what you thought I would do with Temari." He insisted, stepping closer to her, hiding the fear he was feeling of saying the wrong thing and being punched against the wall.

"Damn! You're totally unconscious." She said, throwing her hands up in the air.

Sakura knew that Shikamaru was not the most perceptive when it came to romance and was usually completely oblivious to female feelings.

Everyone knew that Temari had a little obssession with Shikamaru, or at least that's how Ino like to put it. In Sakura's opinion, the girl had no idea she had feelings for the shadow ninja and completely unaware to all the flirting she was doing. But the slightest thought of him around Temari, and for a whole day, made Sakura's stomachache hurt. She hated not having total control over herself.

She didn't understand how Shikamaru didn't see the way Temari looked at him, when even Kiba, who was completely oblivious to everything, had noticed and always made annoying teasing when everyone was gathered, making Sakura feel more irritated than she would have liked.

"Sakura you're screaming." His lazy, slurred voice took out Sakura from her thoughts.

"I'll scream as much as I want..." She completely lost her mind and was consumed by the annoying feeling that had come over her the moment he mentioned another girl's name while lying in bed with her.

Shikamaru's eyes widened while he heard Sakura shout things about Temari and him, and even though he didn't completely understand everything she was saying, the fragments he gathered began to make sense in his head.

"Sakura, stop acting crazy, just admit you're jealous." He spoke a little too loudly, trying to get his voice stand out, above her high pitch.

"Oh, shut up." She shoved him lightly on the shoulder.

Shikamaru grabbed her hand and brought her close, but before he could shut her up with a kiss, the bedroom door opened abruptly.

"Your father is trying to read, lower your voice!" Yoshino shouted as she stuck the head in the crack in the door. She pointed a finger in Shikamaru's direction and frowned. "And if you shout out at a woman like that again, I'll teach you a lesson, boy."

The sound of the door slamming made both blink, stunned.

"I'm sorry." Sakura muttered under her breath, looking off to the side.

Shikamaru couldn't figure out why he was the one being scolded, when Sakura was screaming much more than him.

He pulled her close as he intended to be before being interrupted. "You're jealous." He teased with a smile on the corner of his lips, that was impossible to stop.

"I said shut up." She would never admit she was jealous aloud.

"Make me." He whispered, pleased when he felt her skin crawl under his fingers.

"Moron." She grunted before tangling her fingers in his hair, ruffling the tight ponytail. Bringing his face down so she could capture his lips with hers.

When he kissed her, she bit his lip hard, pleased when he let out a moan that was a mixture of pain and pleasure.

Shikamaru felt Sakura's teeth dragging down his lower lip hard and opened the eyes to find her staring at him. The mischievous glint in her eyes made him feel things he had never felt before. Before she could blink, he threw her on the bed and climbed over her.

"Is this how you want to make up?" He asked in a teasing tone.

Sakura's only response was her nails scraping the skin on his back in a way that he knew would leave marks. He liked the sensation. "Damn, Sakura."

She turned him faster than he could realize and wrapped both legs around his hips. "Never forget, Nara." She pointed a finger at him and liked the way his throat moved as he swallowed, letting her know that he understood what was coming was a threat. "I'm the only one who can do this to you. Not Temari or any other girl."

She leaned over him and whispered in his ear. "I don't like to share."

Shikamaru watched her frown and point a finger at him, taking a serious posture. He tried to focus on what she was saying and ignore the friction he felt because the way her legs were pinning his body to the bed, making him swallow hard.

The only thing he could do was nod. He found that he would let her do whatever she wanted in his current state.

* * *

"What are you doing, Sakura?" Shikamaru didn't know whether to laugh or be amazed to watch she barefoot, pacing the ceiling of his room as if it were the floor.

Sakura looked over her shoulder and smiled to see him back earlier than she expected. Slowing the flow of chakra that was holding her to the ceiling, she landed gracefully on the bedroom floor and walked toward him with a smile on her lips.

"Hey." She greeted when she reached him. "I'm activating seals with sound barriers." She explained by pointing to some scattered spots in the room. "Just in case you piss me off again." She shrugged after that statement.

"Astute." He praised her, because he had not thought of that solution himself.

The day before, over dinner, Shikaku was a bit more incisive than Yoshino,  regarding the noise they made with their little argument.

Shikamaru and Sakura found out that Shikaku was patient with everything, except when someone disturbed his reading. And when Sakura said she understood perfectly what he meant because she hated having her reading interrupted as well, Shikamaru had to spend all dinner listening to his father's praises to her and how he wouldn't find a better girl.

What drove Yoshino to babble about how they would make beautiful babies and the consequence of this was Sakura swallowing her food like Shikamaru had never seen before, running out the door soon after, as quickly as he had ever seen her running.

Shikamaru realized that Sakura wasn't planning a married future with children anytime soon, maybe it was because she was a kunoichi or maybe it was because they were only sixteen.

"You ran away yesterday." He teased.

Sakura lay on the bed with open arms, taking up the entire space. "Didn't that talk about babies scare you?"

Shikamaru sat on the edge of the bed and seeing her so carefree and relaxed made him have an almost uncontrollable desire to tease her, but he had no idea why that imminent death wish. "We can start now, you know."

Sakura felt her cheeks burn and she threw a pillow at him.

Shikamaru laughed out loud and took the pillow easily. "You're beautiful when you blush."

"We're too young for these things." She crossed the arms giving him space to lie beside her. "And I thought you didn't think about that kind of stuff."

He was surprised by what she said, realizing that they had never talked about intimacy before.

"I never thought about it much, but you arouse things in my body that I've never felt before." He felt his own cheeks burning and stared at the ceiling hoping she wouldn't see.

Sakura saw the rose that adorned his ears and decided to look at the ceiling as well. She realized that they had never talked about it, even if they let themselves get carried away by the heat of the moment, many times.

"I'm curious about that." She blurted out and nearly covered her mouth when she realized what she had said.

Shikamaru turned the head abruptly, not caring anymore if she saw his flushed cheeks. "You?" He asked genuinely surprised to hear she say something so openly.

He knew she trusted him. They always talked about anything and everything, but Sakura was shy when it came to things like this and so was he, even if he didn't like to admit it.

"Yes." She turned her face to face him too. "But I don't think I'm ready yet and neither you are." She looked away, unable to bear the intensity that had taken over his eyes.

Shikamaru had to agree with that. They weren't ready for a bigger step in their sort of strange relationship, but he kept his mouth shut. Intent on listening to every word she said.

"I just know, I want it to be with you..." She felt foolish for wanting to do that with Sasuke for so long. Now that she had something true with Shikamaru, Sasuke didn't take up much space in her mind beyond that of a lost teammate.

"Even if we don't stay together forever..." She added not wanting to scare him, after all, he had other options. In her opinion Temari was much prettier, stronger and more mature than her. Sakura felt her chest tighten every time she thought about it. She had to admit that Temari could probably be the perfect match for Shikamaru, or at least that was all their friends said, except Ino.

Shikamaru heard she say these things and he knew her mind was racing in various scenarios, and that's fine because his mind was too. And all he could think was that she was saying she wanted to be with him in a way that he had wanted her since the first time he kissed her.

It was not the Uchiha defector, nor Naruto, it's only him. That thought made him want her even more and he couldn't imagine himself with another girl besides her, not now and not in the future.

"I want to be with you forever, Sakura." Shikamaru's voice was so sincere that she had to turn her face to look at him.

"Do you want?" She managed to whisper.

Shikamaru nodded. He felt her hand intertwining with his and he smiled.

"Me too..." She said after a few seconds of silence. "I want to be with you too, Shika."

* * *

**Note:** _There wasn't much action or big events in this chapter, but I promise more action in the next. _

_**Another note:** Thanks for all the followers and favorites. Review if you want, I love to know from you if I'm on the right way._


	6. Even with scars

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto.**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Even with scars.**

Sakura raced through the streets of Konoha, increasing the flow of chakra on the soles of her feet to reach her goal so quickly as possible. She knew that she had a silly smile on face, but she couldn't help herself do another thing besides smile like a child who had just received a gift.

That morning when Tsunade called her into the office in the Hokage Tower, Sakura thought it was a last-minute mission or a change in training schedule. But to her surprise and happiness, Tsunade gave her a scroll, and the words written on the paper, mentioning that Naruto was coming back that afternoon, made her day happier.

Tsunade said the scroll only came to her that late hour and she summoned Sakura shortly thereafter. The last-minute warning didn't surprise Sakura at all, after all, when it came to Jiraya, Kakashi and Naruto, delays were common. Both had a history of delays and near-triumphant entry attempts.

So she thanked Tsunade for the warning and looked out the window to see the sun high in the sky, she smiled and jumped out the window, ignoring Tsunade's protests that she should act more like a girl and use the door. Sakura jumped across the roof of the Hokage Tower, going home to change clothes and bite before running to Konoha Center, speeding through the streets, trying not to run over any unsuspecting citizens.

She met Konohamaru along the way, the boy was leaving Naruto's old apartment claiming that he had decided to tidy up the place the moment he heard the rumor that Naruto was back. Sakura felt an eyebrow rise at the knowledge that the rumor had spread so fast, but she ignored it all when Konohamaru joined her in the rush towards the Village gates.

"Hi, Jiraya-sama. Where is he?" Sakura asked Jiraya the moment she spotted the huge tangle of white hair. She would recognize that mane anywhere.

"Hey." He greeted with a smile as he turned to face the newcomers.

Sakura didn't miss the way the old pervert's eyes wandered over her body and she understood at that moment why Tsunade punched him whenever she had the chance.

"Don't even think about it." She muttered through clenched teeth when she saw his hand twitch involuntarily toward her.

"Sakura-chan." She heard a male voice calling her name and looked up involuntarily, following the direction of the voice. She raised the right hand to keep the sunshine from blinding her. Then she saw Naruto at the top of the wooden post, just above where they were.

"Naruto." She smiled and the moment he came down to stand before her, she pulled him into a tight hug.

Naruto grunted something intelligible, and when she heard the sound of bones snapping, she let him go and apologized, feeling shy about showing spontaneous affection and not knowing how to measure her own strength due to the excitement of having him back.

"You got a lot stronger, Sakura-chan." Naruto grunted, not taking his arms that were resting comfortably around her waist.

"Your voice has changed." She said without thinking. "You grow up." She added with a surprised tone when she saw that he was much bigger than her now, unlike before he left when she was taller.

"You're different." She whispered a little later, as she ran her hands absently through his hair, letting the hands fall, she traced with her fingertips, the marks on his face that always reminded her of a cat's whiskers.

"Ahem." The sound of Jiraya clearing his throat made both teenagers look at him and move away from each other.

"You look even prettier, Sakura-chan." Naruto said with a beaming smile and Sakura was so happy to have him back that she didn't realize Jiraya was leading them toward the Hokage Tower.

While they walked behind Jiraya, with Konohamaru right beside them, Naruto told her all about his trip and his training with one of the Sannin, and Sakura told him about her training in return.

When they reached Tsunade's office and Sakura saw Kakashi for the first time in years, she felt all the weight of the past fall on her shoulders.

She smiled at him, repeating silently to herself that everything was fine.

She listened carefully to Tsunade and accepted that they were on a team together again and tried very hard to push the negative thoughts deep into her mind, from where they should never try to get out.

* * *

It was Wednesday morning and she was awakened by the annoying sound of a messenger bird pecking the bedroom window incessantly.

Sakura got up lazily, regretting staying so late on the street with Naruto last night while they were training with Kakashi once again, which was becoming frequent after Naruto's return to the village.

Last night they finally got their hands on the damn bells, after a fight that left their former teacher genuinely surprised and obviously proud if the glint in his eyes was any indication. None of them mentioned Sasuke's absence and everyone was grateful for it.

In celebration of their unprecedented victory, Kakashi took them to Ichikaru and for the first time (in what could be a lifetime for him) Kakashi paid the bill. Which led her and Naruto to order more and more ramen dishes and other delights, just for the pleasure of watching him squirm in the bank as he spent his precious money on them.

Naruto ate so much that Sakura had to drag him home, propping him on her shoulder, while Kakashi walked beside them, reading that new book that Jiraya had presented him, without even looking in their direction or even offering her a minimal help, not that she needed help anyway, but chivalry in the shinobi world was obviously dead and she snorted at the morbid thought, knowing that Tsunade would beat her if she knew she cared about such frivolous things. After all, they were kunoichis and needed no shinobi or civilian for anything, Tsunade's words, words which always made Shizune roll her eyes.

After she tossed Naruto on the bed and left his small apartment, Sakura was surprised that Kakashi was still walking beside her, and was even more surprised when he took her to her parents's house.

Before she could enter the front door Kakashi's muffled voice said something she never expected to hear and she swore for a few seconds that she had only imagined the apology he had given her. When she turned to face him, he was still staring at that stupid book, but the words that came out of his mouth right away made her sure he'd apologized earlier.

"I always knew you had potential. I just wasn't good enough to shape the precious gem that is Sakura Haruno. I'm glad Tsunade could do what I never could."

Before she could say anything, Kakashi disappeared, leaving behind a cloud of smoke and a lost tear, streaming down her cheek.

Forgetting all about last night, she got up, opened the window and took out the paper that was wrapped around the bird's foot. She read and was grateful that Kakashi was always late, so she would have enough time to tell Shikamaru that Wednesday's game would have to be postponed for the first time in years.

* * *

Shikamaru was lying on the bed staring at the ceiling. He didn't know what time it was, but he knew it was still too early because the sun was rising beyond the horizon and the first rays of the day broke through the window to confirm this.

He hated waking up early, the rare occasions when this happened was when there was a mission that required it. He always used a lot of effort to escape these missions.

He sighed and closed his eyes tightly, trying to get some sleep inside himself, but after a few minutes he realized that he had failed once more. He hated not being able to sleep, and on second thought, he'd never had a problem with it before.

Naruto's return affected him far more than he thought possible. He hadn't seen much of sakura in the last few days since her former teammate's return and something inside him was restless.

He knew he was being ridiculous. He knew Sakura would kick him straight to Suna if she knew the thoughts that were prowling his mind. Thoughts that he was just a substitute into the absence of the people she really wanted around, that he was just a hobby to ward off the loneliness, that he was someone who was there when she needed somebody and at any moment she would put him away.

He knew Sakura would never use anyone like that. Because he knew she was sincere, true and intense in everything she did. But the certainty about her character did not diminish anxiety and negative thoughts. He wanted to scream, but the effort to expel a scream from deep in his throat was too much, so he buried the idea of overflow with a scream, deep in his mind, along with the annoying thoughts.

He convinced himself that this restlessness was not his fault, after all Sakura was too good for him. He knew that one day she would realize that she could get someone less lazy and more willing to do for her everything he didn't do because he was too lazy to do.

Since the Festival, where he let her know they were together in a relationship, Shikamaru became convinced that until she realized that she could do better, he would enjoy every second beside her. Yet the lump in his stomach was taking away his sleep so precious.

Shikamaru's heart sped up when he saw her entering the bedroom window with a box of his favorite confectionery in her hands. He thought it might be a hallucination for lack of sleep because he didn't know the candy store opened so early.

When the bed moved and he felt the weight on the mattress beside him, he knew it was no illusion. He waited for her to lie beside him, but after a minute that didn't happen, he opened his eyes again and saw her hovering above him, staring at him with such a distinct look that made his heart beat faster.

"I didn't know you were the stalker type, Sakura." He grunted and felt a smile rise at the corner of his lips as her laughter broke into the silent room, brightening that morning a little more.

Sakura pulled him by the hands, forcing him to sit on the bed. She lightly stroked his cheek and tangled her fingers in his loose hair, making him come to the conclusion that she had a slight obsession with his hair. He pulled her into his lap, wanting as much closeness as he could take, when she relaxed into his embrace instantly, he smiled.

"Shishou put me on a team with Naruto and Kakashi-sensei... again." She stated, breaking the comfortable silence.

He heard her babbling about how she and Naruto managed to beat Kakashi at the famous bell test and Shikamaru was proud of her. He paid a little attention as she spoke, but his mind was much more focused on she being there with him, so close. Her scent invading his senses and her warm, soft skin beneath his fingers.

Minutes ago, he was brooding over the possibility of her not appearing that Wednesday or in the coming weeks. But contrary to what he thought, she appeared much earlier, to his complete delight. She sitting on his lap, talking nonstop so early in the morning, undid the knot that had formed inside him since Naruto returned to Konoha. He felt foolish about the previous desperation, which was something new since he had never felt foolish before.

"I'm going to Suna." She sighed and Shikamaru concentrated on that sentence, knowing it was important.

"It's classified, but..." He knew she was going to tell him anyway.

"Akatsuki attacked Suna and kidnapped the Kazekage. Someone was poisoned and they need an expert in poison." She concluded.

"This is terrible." He picked up the pastry box from the mattress and set it on the bedside table, pulling her to snuggle further into his lap. "You need to be safe." He said with obvious concern in his voice, spreading kisses over her shoulder affectionately.

He wasn't ready to let her go anytime soon after being without her for several days. And the slightest thought of her running straight into danger made him unwilling to let her go.

"Don't worry about me." She said in a soft voice and he knew she was trying to reassure him, but he feared she had failed in that attempt, because her words did not reach him and he was still worried. The fear that she would not return, hit him painfully to the bone.

"I need to pack my things, we'll be leaving soon." She stated before kissing his forehead and reluctantly leaving his lap. "I promise to make it up to you when I get back." She promised before kissing his lips.

The smile she sent over her shoulder before jumping out the window was a promise, he knew.

Then he watched her leave and refused to acknowledge the tightness in his chest like a foreboding or something. Because he knew she would be back. Sakura never broke her promises.

He picked up the box that had been forgotten on the nightstand, set it on his lap and opened it, stoling a strawberry daifuku she brought to him, waiting for the candy to remove the bitter one that had flooded his mouth the instant she mentioned the Akatsuki.

"Just come back to me, Sakura." He whispered almost desperately as he stared out the window where she had left.

* * *

It was Saturday afternoon, there was a gentle breeze moving the leaves around Konoha, the sun warming the ground as people enjoyed another day of rest.

Inside a room, the story of the death of a dreaded member of the world's most dangerous ninja organization was told in explicit detail, including all the blood, poison, and wooden puppets made from the bodies of dead shinobi.

Shikamaru cursed his creative mind when he heard Sakura mention the thousand macabre puppets that surrounded her as she was moved like a rag doll around a dark cave, driven by chakra strings sticking out of the skilled fingers of a very capable old lady.

When she finished the tale, which Shikamaru thought might very well be a horror story to haunt naughty little children, he lifted his head that was resting comfortably on her belly and stared at her for a few seconds, wondering how lucky he was to have her lying there beneath him, he felt his chest fill with pride and admiration for her.

Because although Sakura gave all the credit for that victory to the old lady who fought beside her, he knew better. He knew that his girl had fought bravely with everything she had and in the end she was the first person to kill an Akatsuki member and survived to tell the story.

He lifted her shirt gently and faced her once more before kissing the mark that had been left by Akasuna no Sasori's poisoned blade. He knew she was upset because the poison burned her skin irreversibly, not allowing her healing chakra to fully heal, leaving a mark that would remind her every day of the almost deadly struggle she had.

"It's a reminder..." He whispered, still keeping his lips on her skin and staring at her without blinking. When her face took on a confused expression, he grinned widely. "A reminder of how strong you are." He explained and kissed the brand again and again, loving the way her skin shivered at the touch of his lips.

Sakura felt exhausted after the fight against Akatsuki, Gaara's resurrection and Chyo's burial. She felt completely drained after Suna's trip to Konoha shortly thereafter. But she could not resist the urge to walk to Shikamaru's house soon after handing the mission report to Tsunade. And in that instant she knew she had made the right choice.

Being by his side made all the unpleasant feelings disappear and seeing him staring at her the way he had been doing since she finished telling the story made Sakura feel alive again.

While he kissed her and spoiled her, she was sure to suggest that this, was the best place for her to be.

He got off her and lay on the bed, pulling Sakura to lie on his chest as he stroked her hair, hoping that gesture would be enough for her to feel protected, even though he knew she didn't need him to protect her. He liked to keep her closer, where he knew she was safe.

Shikamaru was never one to believe in forebodings, but he believed in pure and simple logic, and based on the fact that Konoha had intruded on Akatsuki's plans, he knew there would be retaliation in some way and he knew that retaliation would come in soon.

Sighing, he held Sakura in his arms, letting the warmth of her skin soothe him, deciding that he would enjoy the moments of peace before a dark storm with red clouds darkened Konoha's sky.

He just didn't realize that not all the logic in the world would prepare them for the devastation of this storm. And that everything would be so much worse than anyone could imagine.


	7. Even with hasty declarations of love

**Disclaimer: I don't own, and that's it.**

* * *

**Chapter 7: ****Even with hasty declarations of love.**

It was Tuesday, and she knew she should wait until the next day when he would be waiting for her, but she never felt so anxious in all life, and that feeling of loss at not having heard from him was eating at her from the inside out. Ignoring the pouring rain that fell on Konoha over and over, she wore a thick raincoat and ran towards the main house of the Shadow Clan. Arriving at her destination, she took off her cloak and sandals, leaving them on the porch and entered the house, walking towards his room, thanking for not meeting anyone on the way.

She knew he was completely heartbroken and she refused to leave him alone.

Opening the door as quietly as possible, she looked around. The room was dark because of the rainy weather, although it was still midday. The fact that the curtain was obscuring the little light that was supposed to come in through the window, and all the lights were out, added to the darkness.

She saw a lump on the bed, covered with a thick comforter, and knew he was there. Without saying a single word, Sakura walked over to the bed and crawled across the mattress, entering under the thick comforter, lying down beside him.

"It's been a week." She whispered in the dark room, after almost an hour of silence.

"Go away, Sakura." He grunted in a lazy and completely disinterested tone, but she did not lose the veiled sadness in his almost carefree tone of voice.

"Are you really kicking me out of your house?" She asked in a tone of voice that promised an hell for him, and even though she knew he didn't need a fight, she wouldn't let him dismiss her easily.

"No?" He risked it, fearing it would irritate her if he really did throw her out of his room. Because even though he wanted to be alone, lying in the dark, drowning in that dull pain that clutched his chest, he didn't want her to leave.

Her arms circled his waist as she buried the face in his neck and he almost sighed with relief that she was still there.

"Ino said that you didn't talk with her or Chouji." Her voice was no more than a low whisper, but it echoed through the room, breaking the silence that he hadn't even realized had dominated the room again.

Shikamaru didn't answer, he didn't know what to say.

"Your mom told my mom that you broke the furniture in one of the rooms in the house after talking with your father." Her lips tickled his neck with each movement of the mouth, and he liked the sensation. It was the first time since Asuma's death that he had felt anything, and he didn't even realize that he had forgotten how good was to feel, especially if it was through Sakura.

"These troubled women make it look like I've gone crazy." He grunted, imitating the soft tone of voice she had used, for fear of destroying the calm that had overtaken the room.

"I'm here." She whispered again, completely ignoring his previous sentence. She knew that he knew that Ino and his mother were only concerned about him.

"I don't know how much it hurts, because I never lost someone like that..." She declared shortly thereafter. Sakura knew what it was like to be abandoned and left behind, she knew rejection, but she never dealt with the death of someone she loved so closely, and although she lamented Chyo's death, she couldn't imagine what it would be like to lose Tsunade who was hers mentor and the person she most admired.

"...but I'm here Shika." She concluded, hoping it would be enough to comfort him.

She heard him sigh heavily before burying his face in her breasts and after a few seconds, something wet penetrated her shirt, moistening her skin. She knew it was tears.

Slowly undoing the tie that held his hair, she stroked the back of the neck with her left hand and wrapped her other arm around him, bringing him closer. His arms tightened around her, as if she were all he had at that moment and she hugged him back, letting him spill everything she had, and she would take anything.

Asuma's death broke Shikamaru and she hated seeing him that way. But when she was completely broken and struggling hard to hide her pain from everyone, he was the only one who saw the farce behind the smile she wore on face every day. He saved her with a simple invitation to a game of shogi, so she would save him now, giving him whatever he wanted to take from her.

When a loud sob echoed through the room, she kissed his forehead and rubbed his back, hugging him even tighter. The sobs grew louder, the loud noise of rain drowned out the desperate sound.

Sakura felt tears running down of her cheeks, hating to see him in pain.

When the storm passed, several hours later, there were no more tears for him to shed and with one last breath, he felt the pain less dull and the weight on his chest became a little lighter.

Maybe tomorrow he would be ready for a shogi game, and he would beat Sakura every time, in Asuma-sensei's memory.

* * *

Sakura had few certainties in her life. The first was that Naruto would become Hokage. She knew that because if it was necessary, she would die for it. The second certainty was that they would bring Sasuke back home. And the third was that she knew Shikamaru better than anyone, better than Chouji, Ino, the deceased Asuma and even Shikaku.

So Sakura knew for sure that he was avoiding her. He was running away from her for two whole weeks, breaking their record of more than two years without missing a day of shogi game weekly.

She considered herself a reasonable woman and sometimes even a patient when needed. For that reason she decided that two weeks of ignoring her existence was enough.

All five times she saw him at the Hokage Tower, he quickly left the room or would disappear into the hall without her having a chance to approach. When all the friends got together to celebrate Naruto's return, officially, he didn't show up and neither Ino nor Chouji knew where he was. But when Shizune told her that he denied a mission where they would go out together, Sakura felt that last string of her patience burst. Whatever was going on in his mind, she decided that two weeks was enough for him to resolve.

Right after lunch, invading his room, regardless of the privacy issue and all that bullshit, she sighed heavily when she realized he wasn't there, so she put on a seal that she and Neji had recently developed. The seal captured any vibration within the space where it had been placed. They were able to develop the seal using the principle of the seal developed by the Fourth Hokage, with the small difference that it would alert them the moment someone entered the place.

Even though Tsunade would reprimand her for using such a useful seal for something so frivolous, she didn't care. She was the one who created that thing and she would use it when she needed it, however she wanted. Not that she was going to tell Tsunade, because she didn't have a death wish.

Leaving the room without looking back she nodded to herself, knowing that at any moment he would return and she would confront him once and for all.

* * *

When night fell in Konoha, Sakura left the bathroom after a well-deserved hot shower and saw the seal flashing on the dresser.

"I got you." She murmured, completely satisfied with herself.

Making the necessary hand signals to activate the seal, the jutsu activated it, sending her directly to the Shikamaru's room. When her feet touched the cold floor, unlike the warm floor covered by a soft carpet in her room, Sakura opened the eyes, ignoring the nausea due the new jutsu.

Shikamaru heard an almost imperceptible noise and took a few steps back, preparing his body and mind to defend from an attack, but was surprised by a pink-haired kunoichi, wet and wrapped in a towel standing in the middle of the room.

"You lazy coward." She growled, obviously annoyed, taking a few steps towards him making the shinobi retreat instinctively. "You're avoiding me, Shikamaru." She screamed through clenched teeth, staring him with fire in her green eyes.

The heir to the shadow clan felt his heart sink when he heard her sound so hurt, so he lowered the head, avoiding her gaze.

"I've been busy." He murmured in a low voice.

"Do you think am I idiot?" She replied in an indignant tone, pleased when he looked in her eyes. Even though she was angry with him, she was happy to see his eyes for the first time in two weeks.

"I know very well that you have been avoiding me since your confrontation with Hidan." This time her tone was a little calmer, but the storm inside her was far from calming. Taking a few steps, enough to stand in front of him, staring at him, silently detuning him to look away, she continued. "Now you're going to tell me why."

Sighing in defeat, he passed an hand over his face, feeling great frustration at the situation.

"I killed him." He declared, knowing that she was smart enough to unravel all the content hidden in that short sentence.

"And I killed Sasori... We're shinobi, that's what we do." Inside her mind Sakura was trying to understand the real reason why he was trying to get away from her. Hearing him talk about Hidan's death as if he was blaming himself for something, made her even more confused. She knew that there was some profound and unspoken meaning in that sentence, but she couldn't find out what it was, and it pissed her off.

"I killed him for revenge." His voice sounded too hoarse, too raw even for his own ears.

Risking looking at her in the eyes, he stared at her, waiting for her to walk away at any moment.

"Hidan killed Asuma-sensei." She didn't miss the way he cringed, but she refused to stop. "Kurenai-sensei was left alone with a baby." She took another small step towards him. "How many other parents did that man with the twisted mind kill?" She asked rhetorically.

Closing the distance between them, she put both hands around his face. "You killed an immortal and very cruel psychopath." A flicker of pride was visible in Sakura's green eyes. "You saved countless lives that he would take in the future."

He held her hands tighter than he intended and pulled them off his face, watching as her arms dropped slowly to stand beside her body. He wanted to be close to her, but she was too good, too pure, and thinking about it only made him want to get away even more.

"You are too pure." He didn't even realize he had said that out loud until he heard a sigh coming from her lips.

"You are too pure, Sakura." He repeated it, but this time he knew he had said it out loud and he wanted her to know that this was how he saw her.

When his almost desperate gaze looked at her, Sakura understood. She understood that he didn't think he was good enough for her. She understood that somehow his brilliant mind suddenly became so stupid as to make him think she was too good for him. She wanted to hit him, yell at him. She wanted to make him understand that she was not going anywhere far from him.

Before she could think coherently about how to act, her mouth moved and a frustrated sound left her throat. "What the hell is going through your supposedly brilliant mind? Just say it now!" Annoyance was evident on every inch of her face.

When she finished screaming and the only thing that could be heard in the room was the gasping sigh she was emitting after her explosion, she was grateful to have placed sound barriers in his room months ago.

The small smile that adorned his lips, made her anger increase and she wanted to punch something, which at that moment could very well be his pretty face. "You are the most compassionate person I know." His voice brought her back to reality, and unlike before, his tone was now firm and convinced.

His silent steps made her watch almost mesmerized as he approached. The desire to touch him was so much that her hand contracted.

"There is such a bright light around you..." His breath tickled her forehead. "... And it just makes me realize how dark the shadows that surround me are."

She blinked a few times trying to regain some composure, because at some point the air in the room became too heavy and the rain against the window made her feel numb. He was very close and the urge to touch him was almost uncontrollable, but the fear that he would walk away prevented her.

Lifting the head to face him, she whispered. "So you are the shadow to my light."

Hearing that words made him feel alive again. The past two weeks had dragged on and running from her was the hardest thing he had to do. After he buried his mentor and sensei, all he wanted was to be with her, because it made him feel less depressed. But after he lost all composure and buried the Akatsuki immortal member in his family's forest terrain, he felt like he didn't deserve to be around her.

Not for a second did he regret what he did, and if he had the opportunity, he would have done it again and in a much more cruel way if he could, because Hidan deserved to suffer, but that feeling and those morbid thoughts that had taken him over the past few weeks made he realize that he was not good enough for her. He wondered several times what the difference was between him and the traitor Uchiha. Both wanted to kill whoever took something from them. And if he thought Sasuke would never be good for Sakura, then neither was he. She deserved more, deserved someone better, someone like Naruto or Lee. And that thought left a bitter taste in his mouth, making him run away from her.

He watched as she took a few slow steps towards him, completely closing the distance between them. "Even the brightest light needs a break or it can overheat and stop glowing in an instant. You're the shadow that keeps me shining, Shikamaru."

His heart could have stopped at that moment when he saw she smiling so brightly at him, inside that closed room, lit only by the dim light from the lamp beside the bed. Her beauty made him feel that familiar warmth in his belly increase significantly, and her acceptance only made him want Sakura even more.

Closing the distance between them, he snatched her lips before he could stop himself for whatever foolish reason his mind had created.

Feeling the warmth of her lips made all thoughts of moving away disappear completely. He missed her. He missed her warmth, her smell, the softness of her skin and hair. He missed just being close to her. Her presence was enough to calm all the insecurities he was feeling.

Sakura got lost in the kiss. She knew she missed him, but being so close only made her realize how much she wanted him. She swore to herself that if he tried to push her again, she would hit him.

Completely lost in the intensity of his contact, she forgot that she was wearing only a damp towel and when it slid down her body, hitting the floor quietly, she froze.

Shikamaru heard a surprised sigh leave her lips and did not understand why she stopped kissing him, but the fact that she interrupted the moment irritated him. He pulled back a little to look at her face, but his eyes darted directly to her body, almost as if they were being attracted by an invisible force.

It wasn't healthy for a heart to beat so fast, he knew that, but he found completely impossible to look away from her at that moment. The dim light from the lamp illuminated her pale skin, making him swallow hard and after a few seconds, which seemed like hours, he decided it was best to get away. This time the reason he wanted to stay away from her was very different, he thought that if he didn't move away, he could lose control and he hated not being in control of himself.

An almost painful sigh escaped his lips before he took a small step back and stared at the ceiling, trying to calm his body, which had reacted very vividly. He didn't feel guilty, his mind rationalized that it was completely normal to react to the sight of a beautiful woman, by whom he was attracted more than physically, completely naked before him, in his room, very close to his bed.

Closing his eyes tightly, the image of her returned behind his closed lids and he thought he could easily go mad at that sight. The woman _he loved_, completely exposed, with a few drops of water falling from her pink hair and running over her soft skin. Suddenly Shikamaru realized something very important. As quickly as it came, the seriousness of that resolution hit him like a flood.

_'I love her.'_ He thought.

"I love you." He heard himself saying weakly.

Opening his eyes and lowering the head, he looked at her again and groaned loudly. She was still standing in the same position, her eyes wide, a beautiful blush staining her cheeks up to her neck and the delicate but deadly arms standing at her sides.

Sakura blinked a few times, coming out of the mortified state she had fallen into. She raised her arms to cover the breasts when she realized she was still petrified since the towel fell on the floor. She allowed his voice to penetrate her ears and when that phrase reached her brain, she felt something warm her heart.

"I love you too." She whispered back to him and when she said it out loud, she realized she had loved him for a long time.

She didn't know when it happened but when she realized Sasuke no longer occupied her thoughts and whenever her heart sped up, the reason was always the handsome shinobi of the shadows that she had fallen for so deliciously. She found that she didn't care, and even if that fall meant her death, she would gladly jump a thousand times.

Closing the distance between them again, his fingers intertwined in the wet strands of her hair and he brought her face close, loving the way her hot breath tickled his lips. He sealed his lips to hers and kissed her deeply, wrapping his arm around her waist, drawing her closer, containing another desperate moan that wanted to escape when he felt every curve of her body molding against his body.

"I love you, Sakura." He whispered again against her lips, taking a few steps back, pulling her with him towards the bed.

"Shika?" She murmured with a twinge of uncertainty and fear in her voice, looking quickly at the forgotten towel on the floor.

"You love me too." He declared in a hoarse tone of voice that made chills ripple throughout her body.

When he tore off the black long-sleeved blouse and exposed the top of his body, she moaned involuntarily, knowing exactly what was coming next. They had talked about this several times before, agreeing to wait until they were both ready.

Looking into his eyes, watching his dilated pupils and the way he was panting, she thought he never looked so fierce and determined, even during a battle and it made her shiver.

She placed both hands on his chest, letting him lay her on the bed slowly. Watching almost mesmerized when he got rid of the rest of the clothes and climbed on top of her, spreading kisses on her neck.

"Damn it." She cursed almost breathlessly when he kissed every inch of her belly. Feeling his tongue on the warm skin, she covered her eyes with the right arm, feeling shy and completely helpless against his tactics. _'Damn strategist.'_

Shikamaru looked at her face, without ceasing his ministrations, and when he saw her covering the eyes with an arm and biting her lower lip to contain the sounds he knew were trapped in her throat, he knew he had gained her consent. He was completely ecstatic.

Biting lightly on a point he knew was sensitive and receiving a delicious moan in return, he smiled.

"Bastard." He heard her grunt and smiled even more.

"Stop biting your lip, I want to hear all." He positioned himself on top of her, removing the arm that was covering her eyes and pinning both of her hands over her head. "I want to hear you, Sakura." He begged, before closing the distance between them painfully slowly.

"Don't you dare stop now." She said through clenched teeth when she realized he had hesitated at the last second. When he opened his eyes to face her, she released her hands from his grip and placed both hands on either side of his face. "I want this." She whispered. "I can take it, medic-nin, remember?" She said with a smile, hiding all the anxiety she was feeling.

He wanted to show her how much he loved her, so he did.

When she shouted his name loud enough for him to find himself shouting her name in response, Shikamaru thanked the heavens for the sound barrier seals that were spread across the room, because if his mother saw what he was doing with the precious, innocent Haruno Mebuki's daughter, he would be a dead shinobi.

She achieved satisfaction under him, he followed her shortly after. The heir to the shadow clan looked at the beautiful woman sleeping in his arms and smiled with happily that she did not give up on him. The rain was still pounding heavily against the window and the night was darker than normal nights in Konoha.

He played with the shadows sneaking up through the dim light in the room, making meaningless pictures on the wall.

Shikamaru knew he was a shadow and he knew he was feeding on Sakura's light, but the fear and guilt that he felt before, disappeared. Remembering what had happened a few minutes ago, he only felt satisfaction, almost a state of ecstasy flooding all parts of his body.

At that moment, he decided that if she needed his shadows to keep her shining. _He would make her shine._

* * *

_**Note: **Hi, s__orry for the long wait... __I don't know how many chapters are yet to come, but I don't intend to finish this story anytime soon. Thank you for staying with me._


	8. Note

Hello guys,

Sorry, this is not a new chapter but only a note.

I think I need to justify the lack of updating for so long.

Besides that madness caused by the pandemic that our world is facing, I had a very painful loss ... my husband passed away at the beginning of last month and now my life is a little messed up.

I don't want to burden you with my personal problems, so I just ask that you wait a little longer, I intend to write again in a month or two.

And please, be safe!


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